Hell Hath No Fury
by Ichigo to Hana
Summary: After Infinity War, nothing is like it was before. Half the universe was snapped away, families severed. Well, you haven't seen the last of them. And she isn't too pleased. This is what happens when you kill Death's favorites. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! AU Endgame.
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE**

Surprise! In honor of the mental breakdown that is Endgame, I give you: Therapy session turned FF.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL

* * *

PROLOGUE

A nerve near her eye twitched. Hel balled her hands to fists. Asgard was no more. _Hela took my name. My realm. Almost killed me._The scar on her back tingled unpleasantly. _She tried to kill my father. And they retaliate by destroying her source of power. As if that would kill her. A true god of death is only a liability to their own kind. It is my duty to rid the universe of Hela. _A throb in her back. _Even, if no one remembers me. No, especially if no one remembers me._

_"I saved your life because you deserve to live."_

_"Who are you?"_

_"No one."_

Their voices echoed in her head. Her father was under her spell. A spell Hel wasn't even sure would survive the memory of someone, who had truly cared for her. Spent years with her.

Still.

Her own father couldn't remember her. _And it's all Hela's fault._Hel clenched her jaw, tempted to lash out at something. Anything. Just to get the energy out of her system. _The witch will pay for this. For taking my family away from me._

She watched Asgard burn and fall apart for a moment longer then dropped through one of her portals. Back to Helheim. Back to where it all started. _Part of her power lies in my realm too. No matter what Odin claimed._

Hel's back hurt. The spot the magical sword had pierced her flesh was uncomfortably sensible to any kind of pressure. She shifted her back, trying to alleviate the pressure building under her skin at the mere thought of Hela. _She won't survive the next season. I'll make sure of it._

Helheim was gloomier than before, matching its ruler's mood. Hel narrowed her eyes at the sight. She was on her own with her remaining ghosts. No one else could help her. No one else needed to help her.

The goddess of death raised her chin defiantly. Her ebony hair snapped behind her on an unearthly wind. In a burst of green, she sent out her magic to find Hela.

She would kill Hela for all the mistakes she made. For all the pain she brought. Even, if it meant sacrificing herself. Hel narrowed her eyes.

_Whatever it takes._


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 1**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 1 Hell, sweet Hell

"Steve…?"

The feeling of falling stopped. Something hard pressed into his side. Another thing tickled his nose. His head throbbed with dull pain. Light filtered through his lashes, when Bucky tried to blink. It was dimmed, as if coming in through thick clouds.

Slowly, carefully, Bucky opened his eyes; let them adjust to the lighting. He was more than relieved to find the pain in his body easing away. So, he looked around himself. _These aren't the woods of Wakanda. And Steve … is nowhere either. But…_

Someone groaned. More out of instinct, Bucky rolled to his feet. He ducked his head slightly; knife in hand, pulled from the sheath. His muscles tensed, ready to strike.

Sam got up a few metres to the left, his goggles still covering his eyes, wings bent in odd angles. Bucky almost sighed. _Of all people. Well, at least I know him. _Bucky shifted his feet, pebbles crunching under his boots.

Falcon's head whipped around. They stared at one another for a few heartbeats. "Of all the people," Sam huffed. He scrubbed a hand down his face. Bucky felt the corner of his mouth twitch up in a tired smile. _At least the feeling is mutual. That I can work with._

Sam scratched the back of his head, then pulled the goggles off. "So, we're in this together?" he sounded as thrilled as Bucky felt. Which was not very much. Sure, they had worked alongside each other for a short time, but that had been more for Steve's sake than for each other's.

Around them, a dark landscape stretched out as far as the eye could see. Skeletal trees wound their branches into the grey sky; the air was filled with a constant crackle as if by electricity of an approaching thunderstorm. Huge rocks obscured and crafted paths. _This looks somewhat familiar?_

Sam shrugged off his wings. They didn't look good. The tips bend in curves, feathers in the middle missing altogether, the backpack slightly dented. He gave an unhappy sound. Somewhere between a groan and a growl. "Great. Getting those in shape will take weeks. Just what I need. I bet they're all worried about our whereabouts." He looked up and around them. Bucky remained carefully still to avoid disturbances. "Where are we anyway?"

Bucky mutely looked between Sam and their surroundings. They definitely weren't in Wakanda anymore. He half listened to Sam trying to contact their team. "Cap. Come in, Cap." Sam pressed two fingers to his ear. "Can you hear me? Cap? War Machine?" There seemed to be no answer, going by his rising voice. Sam sounded more and more alarmed the more he tried to contact anyone and didn't get any response.

Bucky used this time to circle around Sam and take in their surroundings. Just in case a new wave of enemies raced at them. He needed them to be prepared –

And that's when he saw it. _Are those the trees I saw from my window? They do look uncannily like them. All crouched and black and dead._He rose to his full height, raising his chin. There it was. The big boulder in the middle of the trees, that always reminded him of a shield or a round table.

"I know, where we are," he said in the midst of one of Sam's impressive cursing streak. The other one clicked his mouth shut. Then: "And why would you know that?"

"I spend a good portion of my life here. Whenever they put me in cryo, I ended up here." Bucky tried to sound suave about the whole deal. As if it was nothing. But it wasn't. And they both knew it. HYDRA had done a good job at messing the brunet up both physically and, more importantly, mentally. Not only programming, but also self-hatred was an integral part of Bucky's personality, even though he worked hard to overcome it.

Sam looked torn between making a comment and comforting the other man. In the end, he did neither and instead kicked his wings half-heartedly. "I'm assuming," he began without looking up, "you know someplace, where someone might help us?"

Bucky nodded once.

* * *

True enough, a short walk later the two men entered a huge portal. It led them into an even grander throne room. Sam's eyes widened. He craned his neck to take in the grandeur surrounding them. "Wow. Nice place. I get, why you wanted to go under again." His eyes lingered on the intricate designs swirling a column. "Not bad. I could get used to this."

Bucky didn't even spare the room a glance. He knew the layout and decorations of it. Every shadow. Every alcove. Every structure. His steely gaze travelled over the throne room in search for one person only.

A young woman sat on the steps of the dark throne. Her black hair obscured her face like a ruffled curtain.

_Hel._Bucky felt his shoulders sag. _Hel might help us, if she is so inclined. Hopefully she won't take too long. Steve will be worrying already. _Bucky didn't say anything, only kept walking towards her, his back pulled ramrod straight. He felt more than saw Sam follow him. Trusting him. Because there was nothing else to do.

Only, when Sam and Bucky were but a few paces away did the young woman lift her head. Sunset-kissed eyes shone out of a blue face. A single thin line ran over her cheek and stopped just short of the jugular vein. The smile she threw the men was broken. "Brave soldier mine." Hel tilted her head to the other side as if drawn by invisible strings. Her voice sounded airy. "You have returned to me."

Bucky stopped in his tracks. _What happened to her?_He stared openly at the new scar on her otherwise pleasant face. Next to him, Sam looked quickly between the two. He obviously caught on to the connection between them but chose not to comment on it for now. For that, Bucky was grateful. He was at a loss of words at her appearance.

"I hoped you would come back to me." Hel's eyes went slightly unfocused. "Even, if you wouldn't remember." Bucky furrowed his brows. _Not remember? What is she talking about? Why would I forget the only person that stood by my side apart from Stevie?_

And then she blinked for the first time since looking up. Slow, almost mechanical. Her back straightened, hands still resting on her knees. As if just then noticing, her eyes landed on Sam. "You brought the Falcon." She gave a sudden smile, too bright to be considered sane. "Very well. Our little party is almost complete."

"Sorry, but I feel like I'm missing a huge chunk of info here." Sam shifted his stance, crossed his arms over his chest. "Who are you?" His tone was defiant, even though Bucky could hear the wariness beneath it. He couldn't blame Sam. Hel just scratched him the wrong way. Both of them. Something was off.

The young woman weighed her head from side to side. It seemed she was considering his question. Taxing Sam with narrowed eyes. In the end, Hel didn't say anything and just rose to her feet in a sudden motion and went towards a portal beside the throne.

Bucky opened his mouth. "Hel," he paused, unsure how to ask the many questions pestering his mind. _How come you think I forgot you? Who injured you? Why do you behave like someone else?_But what came out was merely, "What happened?"

Hel paused. She turned back around. For several heartbeats, Hel just stared at him. "You – you remember me?" She sounded incredulous. Disbelieving. It made Bucky pause. He furrowed his brows.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I?"

Before either he or Sam could react, Hel was all but flying at Bucky. She slammed into his chest and only his reflexes kept them both upright. Heavens, she was heavier than she looked. Hel wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her. As fast as she had tackled him, she stepped back again. A slight smile played over her lips. It somehow looked sad. Bucky blinked in confusion. _What just happened?_

"So, uh," Sam sounded uncomfortable. "Not to interrupt or anything, but like… Who are you and what happened?" His eyes darted between the young woman and his comrade. Obviously more confused than Bucky.

Hel took another step back, looking at the both of them. She slightly tilted her head, brows furrowed in what seemed like confusion. For a long time, the three of them only looked at each other. Hel's eyes scanned Sam and Bucky alike, taking in every detail. Eventually, she pursed her lips then gave a flitting smile like a bird in a storm.

"You died."

"D-Died?" Sam choked on the word.

A joyless giggle was the first reaction, then: "Why yes. You died. Both of you to be precise. In the Snap of Thanos. The Decimation." Hel waved a dismissive hand, turned to return to her place on the steps to her throne. "And now, you are here. In my palace." She made a gesture, encompassing the whole throne room and the rooms beyond. "Welcome in the realm of Helheim. My name is Hel and I am your goddess of death in charge." Hel made a grand show of giving them a curtsy. Her smile didn't reach her eyes. It was more a bearing of teeth. Hel's hair seemed longer and shaggier than Bucky remembered. It was all very odd.

He lifted his chin slightly. "What happened to you? Why wouldn't I remember you?" Bucky furrowed his brows. "I spent half my life here with you."

"Not all of it as willing as the beginning and the end," Hel replied almost casually. She moved to inspect her nails, as if the whole situation was boring her. But Bucky didn't let that fool him. He knew Hel in a way no one else, maybe not even her father, did. "Something must have happened for you to not don your illusions upon our arrival. So, what happened?"

He noticed Sam next to him swaying on his feet. "Dead," he mumbled under his breath. It wasn't easy to die. Especially, if you don't even notice. Bucky didn't have the mind to mull that over now. _I was a terrible friend. I didn't have her back, because I wanted to get back and well for Steve. And something happened to her._His breathing was off.

Hel looked up, eyes narrowed, staring right through them. "It's a long story. And not one I am fond to tell."

"Please," Bucky implored. "At least a hint." He stared at Hel with wide eyes. _What happened to her? She doesn't look or behave like she did before I went out of cryo in Wakanda. I wasn't gone that long, was I?_

An ice-cold hand clamped down around Bucky's heart at the thought of leaving Death alone for too long, of not being able to help her as she had helped him.

With a gesture, Hel transformed herself into her humanoid form. An evening gown in black with rippling emerald accents, wherever the light hit, covered her. "I fought. I was forced to make regrettable decisions." Her hair tamed itself until it fell over her shoulder in a cascade of glossy locks, held by black combs. "There is nothing more I have to say to you." Hel turned back around towards a door next to her throne.

Bucky gasped.

Visible in the plunging backline was a scar running diagonally over her back and a gnarled spot of skin around where her heart was. The scar looked recent. Almost, as if it had ripped open during the healing process. More than once.

Out of his peripheral vision, Bucky noticed that Sam looked even paler than before. He was at his wit's end. But at the moment, Bucky couldn't help him with that.

"Who did that?" Bucky suppressed the need to reach for the goddess and caress the skin, feel the scars under the pads of his fingers. In all the years he had known Death, she had never seemed bothered by any illnesses or wounds. And now, the woman he considered a younger sister of sorts, had been hurt and he could do nothing to reverse it. A sudden rage took hold of him. _I'm going to find whoever did that to her. They will pay dearly for this. Still – _

"You can't hurt death."

Hel looked back over her shoulder. This time, her now green eyes scrutinized her soldier ruthlessly. "That is right. No one can harm or end me – except another of my kind. A true god of death. You did not think me invincible, brave soldier mine, did you?" The light shimmering in her eyes was wrong. It seemed too mirthful for the topic at hand. No, Hel was definitely more out of her wits than she wanted to let on.

Since neither of the men responded, Hel turned back around and pushed the doors open. With a saunter, she took the stage beyond the doors, putting on a show for whomever it was they would be meeting. Sam looked at Bucky, who looked back at him. They were in over their heads. In the lion's den. Their best bet was to follow Hel's lead and hope she didn't take them apart.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 2**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 2 Longing

Soft light encompassed the meeting room they entered. Bucky took the time to look around. Several people mingled together in small groups. Their voices were hushed, unsure, even scared.

Without pausing once or acknowledging the men behind her, Hel strode into the middle of the gathering. She wore a charming smile, her hair suddenly shining with something akin to diamonds. Death clapped her hands twice and all conversation died down. Unsteady, fearful gazes turned towards her.

"I am assuming, you are all puzzled, as to the happenings leading up to your presence here." She looked around the room. Her lips curled in a pleased smirk. All attention was focused on her. Bucky looked at Hel. _She holds all the strings. Revealing the truth would be the highlight of her day. Hel would relish in it. Chaos, fear and power. Everything Death craves._

"Thanos accomplished his goal," a middle-aged man in a red cape and weird costume said. "He collected all infinity stones and used them to erase half the universe."

Hel turned her head. Bucky shifted his stance, balancing his weight on his toes. Death's expression was visibly miffed at not being the one to tell the tale. "Why yes. Thank you for summing that up, Doctor." She turned back towards the larger crowd, spreading her arms in an imitation of a hug. "You are all dead now."

Her green eyes swept over the assembled, taking in the shocked expressions with visible ignorance. "My, it seems, we are still missing someone to complete this illustrious gathering." Hel snapped her fingers. The luminescent figure of a female ghost appeared at her side. Sam startled and cursed under his breath. No one took notice.

"Be so kind and escort the king to us." Hel didn't wait for the ghost to bow and scurry – could ghosts do that? – scurry off. Bucky watched her trail through the crowd. His eyes landed on the spider-boy, who had blocked his metal arm with such ease. He kept close to the strangely dressed man, whom Hel had referred to as 'Doctor' and a bunch of even weirder dressed and looking beings. Not all of them were human._More aliens. How strange can this age possibly get?_

One of the weirdly dressed people, the only human in that group besides the spider-boy and Doctor, stepped forward, searchingly seizing Hel. "Where is Gamora?"

Dark hair flew as Death whipped her head around. The corners of her mouth twitched with amusement about whatever memory or association this sentence triggered. In the sweetest voice imaginable, Hel intoned: "Who is Gamora?"

The giant male with the greyish skin with red markings puffed out his chest, opened his mouth to speak –

"Not now, Drax."

Drax looked ready to say something else, but the slim female with the antennas growing out of her forehead whispered something to him and he kept quiet. Bucky noticed his eyes darting around, searching for escape routes, threats open and hidden. He forced himself to relax his muscles. _Now is not the time for that. Hel has everything under control. She can manage this. There's no need for me to intervene in any way._

"I am Groot," a soft voice next to Bucky murmured. As he looked down, he found a tree blinking up at him with huge eyes, branches tentatively curling around his metal arm. "Um, Bucky." What else was he to say to a talking tree?

That seemed to make the tree happy, he trotted back to the rest of his alien group without anyone commenting on his meandering around the otherwise motionless room.

Hel nodded her head, still fixing the human-alien with a falsely charming smile. "I apologize for the inconvenience," she said. "It was too good an opportunity to pass up. Unfortunately," Death gave a cheery smile, "Gamora is no longer. She died in a battle of the minds for the soul stone, which strove to imprison you all. The warrior woman gave her life to make all this possible. As such, she is bound to the stone forevermore or shall perish in the act of escaping."

"There must be something we can do," the human-alien replied, despair audible in his voice.

Hel frowned. "Did you not listen, mortal? She died in a battle of the minds. In the unlikely event she were able to escape her prison unharmed mentally, she would go straight on to Valhalla. Your Gamora is a warrior, if ever I saw one. Odin would be mad if he let her slip through his hungry clutches twice." Hel's eyes took on a deadly glint. "He killed for less."

"You know her, right?" Sam said, coming up to them. "Can't you do something about it?" Bucky looked towards Hel. She seemed so different. Much more like her father, than the Hel he had gotten to know.

"It had to happen that way, Quill," the doctor said gravely. "As hard as it might be –"

"You know nothing about hardship," the other male hissed at him. His face was drawn in an ugly mask of rage, teeth bared.

Bucky noticed spider-boy looking between the men with unease, as if undecided on whose side he would fight should it come to it. His own muscles clenched and unclenched. But Bucky chose to remain quietly in his spot. _Better not draw attention until I am sure what's wrong with Hel. I could never forgive myself, if it has something to do with the trouble she mentioned before I left… I should have stayed longer, just to make sure. She did so much for me and yet…_

"As a matter of fact, I do," the doctor replied calmly. "I saw the future. It all needed to happen the way it did. Only this," he threw Hel a sharp look, "is not how it should go."

A thin smile tilted Hel's lips. "Are you a man or a mouse, Doctor? For Life and Death rarely follow the plan you mortals make."

The doctor didn't reply and Hel simply smiled as she floated into the middle of her newly assembled collection of heroes.

"Ah!" With purpose and an open smile, she approached a group of three. _A family,_Bucky realised. The huddled figures could be nothing else than two elderly parents and their adult daughter. In the background, another young woman stepped closer towards them. Something red shimmered on her fingertips.

"Team Van Dyne – Pym." Hel opened her arms as if going to embrace them but stopped short in her tracks before them. "Hope van Dyne," her emerald eyes landed on the younger of the two women, "I have heard so much good – about your hunt against an innocent."

Her back was turned to Bucky then, but if he had to guess, she had a cruel smirk on her lips. Just a second later, Hel was throwing her head back in fits of laughter, which echoed in the deathly silent room. It sounded malicious. "Forgive my being forward. I desired to say that for myself for so long, for I only ever hear it said."

Both parents drew closer to their daughter, the woman visibly defiant. "Where are we?"

Two newcomers blinked into existence. One was a woman, her dark brown hair kept in a strict bun, the other materialised in the midst of a word.

"-ucker," he growled.

Hel laughed lightly. "Ever full of eloquence, director. Well, ex-director."

Nick Fury, ex-director of SHIELD, lifted his head to stare at Death with a dark glare. "Bring us back."

"Oh, but I cannot."

"We are needed."

Before Hel could either respond or react, the door on the other end of the room was pushed open and a deeply disturbed looking T'Challa was led in. Immediately, he had Death's full attention. "Ah, King T'Challa of Wakanda. The twice arisen," she purred, eyes narrowed in cat-like satisfaction. "This is no place to die, your Highness."

To his great credit, T'Challa stood his ground against the goddess, a mask of stoic calm falling over his features. "Where am I? And who are you?" he demanded to know in an authoritative voice.

Hel's eyes widened in mock realisation. "Did I forget to introduce myself?" She looked around the room.

No one responded. Everyone just stared at their strange host. "My what a grave mistake. I shall correct it immediately," she sounded honestly concerned. "I am Hel. Princess of Asgard. Rightful Heiress of Jøtunheim. Queen of Helheim. Goddess of Death, Lokisdottir," she paused to allow the crowd to take in her words, grinning at the first fearful gasps, "And I am your saviour."

* * *

Silence.

In that silence following her words, even the sound of a pinprick falling would have sounded like a scream.

Bucky swept his eyes across the room. The human alien barely contained his rage. Nick Fury looked darker than the clouds of a hurricane as he helped his companion up. Aliens and humans alike kept a weary gaze on Hel, eyes full of doubt and fear.

The spider-boy's eyes flitted about in both wonder and fear, while the doctor looked on with furrowed brows, as if something was decidedly not going as planned. _Whatever plan he had, I hope, he gets it together soon enough and can tell us about it. Something is not right._

Slowly, a younger woman with red-brown hair stepped forward. Bucky knew her from the airport fight, knew she had been on the run with Steve and Sam. _What was her name? Steve spoke highly of her. I have to know it._

Her face was drawn. "What do you mean 'saviour'?" Her accent was strong, almost hindering understanding her. "Are we not dead?"

Hel cocked her head in curiosity. "I struck a deal in your name," she said calmly. "I stole you before the soul stone could swallow you. You still have a chance to escape. Come back to life, if you will. And fight Thanos." Hel's eyes narrowed slightly as her smile turned as sharp as her knives. "Albeit, I fear, without your beloved. For he is gone beyond even my reach."

The woman, Wanda, Bucky now remembered, stared at Hel in shock. Her lips quivered. And just like that, she fell over like a house of cards. An agonized sob tore itself from her throat.

"Oh my. What tragedy," Hel commented dryly. She looked absolutely detached from the situation.

And then, it happened.

At hearing her words, Wanda's head snapped up, hands aglow with red energy. Her lips trembled. Her eyes overflowed with tears. An angry roar tore from her as the energy exploded around her. Bucky fell backwards, into Sam, both toppling to the ground in a heap. The air was pressed from his lungs. His muscles tensed, a sudden panic flooded his senses. _Air. Breathe!_He forced his lungs to work again, gulping down gasps of air.

Eventually, Bucky peered up and saw the others scattered similarly, trying to get to their feet or check they didn't hurt whoever they fell upon.

"Ow, man can you get off me?" Sam grumbled. "You're heavy." Bucky curled away from him more out of instinct and ingrained training to obey orders than any real recognition of the words. His eyes were fixed on Wanda.

She stood in the circle created by her powers, red crackling up to her wrists. A steady wall of red separated her from the rest of the assembled. The energy flickered like flames, curling towards anyone getting close to them. From what Bucky could see, Wanda was sobbing.

The mother tried to step towards her. Her daughter and husband held her back. As if on cue, Wanda hunched forward and screamed her pain at Hel. The red rose like a crackling fire out of control until it encompassed her whole body.

"Won't anybody help the poor soul?" Hel's eyes swept over the assembled crowd. She sounded bored. _What are you doing, Hel?_

Wanda's face was a mask of agony as she turned her gaze on Hel. Teeth bared in a grief-struck snarl. Vicious. With a single, flowing motion of her hand, tendrils of red punched right into Hel's head. The goddess stumbled backwards, her eyes tinting red. She froze in place. A gasp on her lips.

"Serves her right," Sam mumbled next to Bucky.

Bucky's eyes strayed to him sharply. "Really? Hel doesn't deserve this."

"Doesn't deserve?" Sam stared at him incredulously. "You do realise she's kind of the villain here?"

"She isn't in the best place right now. But she did say she saved us," Bucky tried to argue. "Hel isn't a bad person. She just doesn't always know how to," he paused. _How to what? Express her feelings? No, she can do that very well. Even, if Death prefers to hide behind a wall. Then what is she failing to do?_

Wanda gave another groan, pushing her power relentlessly against Hel. The other woman slowly sank to her knees, eyes welling with tears, her mouth moving in inaudible pleas. Neither of them seemed present.

"We need to separate them," Bucky called out to no one in particular. Fear reared its head in his chest. Wanda didn't hold back and Hel might claim to be invulnerable but she got hurt before. _I can't let Hel die. She's part of the reason, why I survived this long. _"Hel is the only one, who can set us free from here without our physical bodies." He whipped around to stare at Wanda, whose face looked almost serene with the tears streaking her cheeks and the two red bands connecting her to Hel. _Please don't kill her._

None of the others looked too thrilled about the prospect of essentially helping their captor. Bucky felt a long-forgotten growl rise.

Hel's knees hit the ground; her back bowed back, a hoarse scream ripped from her throat. Full of agony. Of pain. Desperation. A constant stream of 'no's followed. Bucky didn't know, which was worse. Wanda's pained cry over losing the love of her life. Or the never-ending stream of broken 'no's torn from Hel._I have to do something!_

There was a small shuffle, then the spider-teenager spoke up. "What, if we pull a sleeping beauty on her?" He looked between the adults around him, hands working nervously. "I mean, kind of like a de-hulk or how we did in space." The doctor gave a non-descript hum, before he hurled the female with the antennas on her forehead into the air.

Bucky was sure his eyes were as big as saucers when she twirled in mid-air and used the platforms appearing in the air as her stepping-stones. The red energy rose as if to meet her, but somehow didn't touch her. A differently coloured light led her right through Wanda's barrier.

She lunged at Wanda, closing her hands around her forehead and mumbled something to the other woman. The antennas glowed.

"What the hell?" Bucky murmured to himself.

"I don't know, man," Sam replied. "Everyone's got a gimmick now."

The other people in the room dew back even further. They clearly didn't trust either Wanda or the antennae-woman to get them out of this situation without making it worse – until an audible gasp echoed around the room when Wanda simply collapsed. The red energy fell without a sound, which was another level of disconcerting altogether. Bucky didn't have time to care for that. "Take care of Wanda. Make sure, she is okay."

Sam brushed past Bucky. Falcon's face was drawn, as if he felt part of the pain Wanda did. _Or as if her pain overrides his determination to stay safe,_Bucky didn't know which was more likely. His muscles were locked, eyes forced to trail his comrade.

Sam walked, stiffly at first, then quicker to Wanda's side. Without looking at anyone, he gently collected her into his arms in an embrace. Even, if she didn't react at all.

"I put her to sleep," the antennae-woman murmured in explanation. "She'll wake up shortly. Calm and refreshed." Her black eyes raked over Wanda's face. "So much pain. Poor thing."

Sam curled his friend more against him, as if to shield her from the prying stares of the others. With the danger of her magic out of the way, the family came closer. The mother crouched down to touch Wanda's shoulder and add her own soothing words.

Bucky's eyes didn't linger on his teammate any longer. He fixed Hel with a determined look. The goddess of death sat unmoving. She stared at nothing, tears streaking her face, lips trembling. _It's a vision of pain or something. Wanda forced Hel to go through what she felt… I think._Bucky set his jaw. _Either way. There's no way I'll leave her like that._

Slowly, he crouched down in front of the goddess. Her eyes remained unseeing. "Hel," Bucky murmured. "Hel, can you hear me?"

No reaction.

With utmost care, this was a woman more powerful than almost anything he had ever seen; Bucky touched Hel's face. He pushed strands of hair behind her ears, brushed away the tears. The red glow in her eyes was unsettling and unnatural compared to the sunset of her true appearance.

"Hel," Bucky said more firmly. "Come back. It's just a dream."

"I say, we use the time to kill her," a voice behind him demanded. "One less monster to worry about."

Bucky spun on his heels, staring up at the human-alien with narrowed eyes. His muscles tensed, ready to spring into action to protect his friend. _No one will touch her. Not on my watch._

Something in his face or posture seemed to deter the human-alien at least slightly. Still, he stared darkly at Bucky. "Dude, she imprisoned us here."

"And she is the only one, who can get us safely out of here." The mother rose calmly from where she had watched over Wanda. She brushed the white braid over her shoulder and fixated both men with a stare. "If she does speak the truth, she is the only one, who can set us free and bring us back into battle." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the human-alien. "And that's why we need her alive."

As if on cue, the spider-teenager came over to Bucky. The soldier tensed in preparation of whatever fights may come – but the teenager merely turned to stand beside him. Shielding Hel from view. "You have a metal arm. That's awesome." He shrugged. Bucky frowned. "Mr. Stark said, you're Cap's best friend from the war. So… You're good."

Bucky gave an acknowledging grunt. _Sound logic. Somehow reminds me of Stevie._

"You too?" The human-alien threw his hands in the air in frustration. Doctor merely watched with mild interest before turning back to the group around Wanda and Sam, where Drax had joined the frame. T'Challa and Fury hung back and observed the situation. Hill crouched next to Sam and felt for Wanda's pulse.

Bucky turned to Hel. She sat stock-still. Only the red in her eyes seemed to lessen. _Hopefully, that's a good sign… God, I hope she isn't hurt._

"Hel," he quietly called her once more. "Come back. We need you here."

"All gone," she breathed. "All gone."

"Sounds like she has a nightmare," spider-teenager observed helpfully. Bucky ignored him. He cradled Hel's face in his hands, staring into her eyes. Shuri's techniques and aids floated through his head. "You're not alone. I'm here. You're safe in your castle. You're home, Hel." Death shivered beneath his hands. Her eyes fluttered slightly, still unseeing. _At least she reacts to something._

"You're safe. I'd never let anything happen to you. I should have been here sooner, it's my fault." Bucky felt his eyes prickle with unshed tears. _Please. Don't leave me alone. You're my friend. I lost too many, killed too many. You're the only one who understands. Actually understands._Somewhere between protecting her and trying to pull Hel out of the vision, his words had turned into senseless pleas. Little words, too quiet to be heard by human ears.

Hel drew a shuddering breath. She blinked. Bucky stared at her, relishing the fact that his friend slowly came to.

"All alone," Death mumbled, to which Bucky immediately shook his head. "No. Not alone." _Not, if I can help it._

As if in trance, Hel looked up at him with heavy eyes. "Bucky." Her head dropped to her chest. "I'm here," he whispered back at her. His hands followed a subconscious pattern of pulling her hair away from her face and turning it up to meet his gaze. As if making sure there were no visible wounds. As if he expected Hel to behave the same as the skinny Steve he half remembered.

Spider-boy glided closer to them, helped Hel to her feet without being prompted to. Between them, Hel stood up. She leaned more against Bucky, as if her body knew exactly, whose body was whose. Death groaned. _She's pushing her muscles too much to keep her upright. This shouldn't be that bad. What exactly did that vision do to her?_Bucky's eyes strayed to where Wanda was also slowly coming to between Sam, the aliens and the mother. Spider-boy backed off slightly, when he was sure Hel would not double over any second.

"Thank you." Hel didn't look at them. Her hair fell into her face, obscured her expression. Her voice sounded raw. With a look back at Bucky, Spider-boy slowly retreated a few steps. "So, she dared using her powers on me," Hel mumbled. "She actually dared."

A crackling noise arose around her. Spider-boy stumbled another step back in surprise, alerting the others. Hel raised her head, eyes wide. Her lips were stretched into an insane grin. Magic rippled like fire over her body, turning her skin blue, her eyes red. Armour wrapped around her body. Swords materialised in her hands. "Well let's see, just who is in charge."

Sam, Doctor and Antennae rose to shield Wanda from the apparent threat. A look into Hel's eyes made Bucky re-evaluate the situation. _She is going to attack Wanda. There's something off, her eyes…_Bucky's throat went dry in such close proximity to a deranged Hel. The young woman definitely wasn't the same charming, witty creature as before.

A curl of her lips. That was all the warning Bucky got to make his decision. As soon as Hel did the first step, he followed her, planting himself in her way.

Death narrowed her eyes at him. "Get out of my way, solider. You have nothing to do with this."

Bucky stared right back.

"Move. Now," she growled.

_Did her teeth just turn sharp?_

Bucky shook his head. "I can't let you do that," he told her. "Wanda doesn't deserve this. She is in pain."

A gust of wind shoved him backwards. "And I am not?" Hel's voice rose at least an octave to a shriek. "Am I not suffering?" She pressed closer. Bucky stood his ground. Right between her and Wanda. _Where I belong. For both their sakes._

"Move." Hel stood toe to toe with him, head tilted to stare him into the eyes. Bucky shook his head. "You won't touch her, Hel. Not, if I can help it."

For a second, Hel stood before him. Stock still. Not a single muscle moved. Bucky's senses shifted. He heard Spider-boy discretely making his escape towards the group around Wanda. He heard the others breathing, tense, waiting for whatever would happen next. He even heard Wanda shift, as she slowly woke up.

He saw the flicker in Hel's eyes before her magic transformed her back into her humanoid form, taking the swords with it. Swords that could reappear any time. Bucky almost stepped back himself. The gleam in Hel's eyes was off. As if she had something planned – something he would never approve of. Her smile stretched so wide her face was splitting in two.

Hel leaned in closer. "I wonder," she whispered. "Did the mortal princess free your mind of its traps and strings? Are you truly a free man?"

Bucky's eyes widened. _No. Hel would never. She has always protected me. She was the one to fight Winter in my head. Helped me overcome the brainwashing and conditioning. She would never –_

His feet wouldn't budge as Hel came even closer to him. Her hair tickled his cheek, as the goddess leaned up to his ear.

"Zhelaniye. Rzhavyy. Semnadtsat'."

His whole body quivered in the face of his most feared words. "No," his voice was breathless. Nothing more than a whisper._Hel would never do this. She protected me from death. She wouldn't go back on her promise._Bucky closed his eyes. His breathing quickened. His hands trembled. Muscles coiling and uncoiling. He was locked in place. Unable to do anything. To defend himself.

Far away he heard someone calling his name. It was too late. Far too late. Always too late.

"Rassvet. Pech'. Devyat'."

A whimper tore itself from his throat.

His knees gave out. He tumbled to the ground. As if kept by magic, he didn't scramble away from the madwoman above him. Could neither flee nor attack. _No, no, no!_

He ducked his head, covered his ears with his hands. Screwed his eyes shut. "Hel! Stop! Please," his voice was rough, panic evident in every note."I can't do that anymore. Please, don't do this to me. Please don't make me do this."

"You promised," the scream didn't sound quite human. He didn't recognize his own voice.

Hel's laugh was hollow and dark. Cruel. She took joy in his fear, his pain. The bounds on his limbs loosened. Burning anger filled his body. Never again. Never again an animal. A dog on a leash. No more. Not even for her!

With a desperate snarl, Bucky launched himself to attack her.

Green tendrils wrapped around his body, tied him down. Like an animal. Never more than an animal.

Not even to her. Especially not to her.

Death.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 3**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 3 Ants

Bucky was curled up at her feet, shivering as the magical bonds melted away. It didn't satisfy Hel the way she had thought it might. _Oh well. It's a lesson he needed to learn sooner or later. I'm not the same he got to know._

She tilted her head to the side, bowed down until her breath had to be ghosting over Bucky's face. "You did not think, I would go through with it, did you?" A hollow giggle. "But you see: Saving you is no guarantee for safety from destruction on another day. Death has a temper unsure even to the most knowledgeable. Try to keep my advice in mind."

As sudden as her intrusion had been, she drew back. "Now that that's settled, tell me, brave soldier: Why do you risk your standing with me for these mortals?"

Bucky curled up into a tight ball. Hel could almost hear his heart jumping around in his chest. _Forgetting the dangers of Death was a mistake. He certainly won't repeat it._

Bucky's breathing was heavy. Most likely unable to hear anything. Hel almost felt bad. Here he had helped her overcome her own fear and she had pushed him right into his own worst nightmare. Her eyes swept over the assembled crowd, landing on Wanda. _Well, he did deserve it for trying to reign me in._

"But you do plan to revive us, right?" Peter suddenly spoke up. Hel turned her gaze upon him, along with the rest of the assembly. Fury cradled his chin in his hand, an intense look in his eye. _Annoyingly smart and paranoid. Maybe I should get rid of him after all?_

Peter on the other hand was not used to being the centre of attention like this. Thus, finding himself in the spotlight, he nervously wrung his hands. "Well, she never said, she wouldn't bring us back," Peter began to explain. His unsteady gaze mainly focusing on Strange, who looked at him with raised eyebrows. "She just said we're stuck with her. And she didn't contradict the notion of us being needed. So, I'm thinking, she'll let us go back. Just not now. Kinda like a kidnapping?"

Hel held perfectly still, allowing her guests to absorb the observations the probably youngest in their middle had made. She especially concentrated on not preening with pride. _For him to keep his focus even amidst all this chaos. It's an incredible feat. And with such precision. He just might make it on my list of golden hearts._

More and more nods passed between the adults. Falcon, Van Dyne, Pym and Hill gave mumbled assessments of their own. Fury's eye wandered between them with calm attention. _There is not a detail he misses. How inconvenient._The same could be said about T'Challa. Being king really had sharpened his senses. _Being a cat-themed superhero might not have been to his disadvantage either._

At her feet, Bucky raised his head slightly off the ground. He peered at her through loose strands of hair. Eyes still wide. Not a single muscle moved beyond that. Quietly, Bucky lay on the ground and waited on her verdict. Hel allowed herself a tiny grin and wink directly at him. It wasn't a friendly gesture. _After this ruckus, let's have some fun. It is my party after all._

Without once looking back at Bucky, she sauntered over to Peter. With a content purr Hel curled around the very obviously uncomfortable teenager as much as possible. Her chin rested upon his shoulder, her hands and legs wound around him, so Peter had to hold her up. She regarded the assembled from her perch on Peter's shoulders.

"Now this is what I call a clever mind. Why did no one else catch my meaning?" She leaned in as if to kiss Peter's cheek, running her fingers through his hair. The poor boy stood ramrod straight, every muscle locked and tense. Panic in his eyes. _Not so clever now, are we? We'll work on that. Don't worry. One can learn to love the chaos._

"Hel," Bucky spoke up.

Her eyes snapped back to him with uncanny precision. "Yes, brave soldier mine?"

Bucky visibly flinched. Hel felt Peter's muscles clench under her fingers. No one seemed to like the implication of the nickname. _Good. Let them have a look at what's mine. Remind them. Remind him, who kept him safe. Whom he should be loyal to and never turn his back on._

Across the room, Bucky forced himself to remain calm. To give off an aura of confidence. And had it not been for the fear written all over his face, it might have even worked. Now, he looked exhausted and afraid and tired all at once. Hel would have felt sympathy for him, if it weren't so justified for him to feel the consequences of his actions.

He forced himself to go on anyway. Prove his worth."If you don't intend to keep us and won't let us pass on to Valhalla or your own realm, why don't you revive us instantly? It would save you a lot of trouble, I assume."

In an instant, Hel was by his side, her eyes ablaze. She ignored the pained grunt Peter gave as he hit the ground and the murmurs of Mantis and Strange helping him up and stepping up to guard him. With a flick of her hand, she separated Bucky and herself even further from the others. Hel ignored Sam's protests or Wanda's whimper. Her single-minded focus was on her soldier.

"Now, brave soldier mine, why would you ask such a thing?"

Bucky took one look at her and squared his shoulders. His fear and exhaustion making him indifferent to whatever she planned for him. Sam called out to Bucky, trying to catch his attention. They both ignored him.

"Steve needs them to fight. I don't have to like them, if they are important to him, they are important to me." His voice was quiet, but there was no tremble in it. He looked her square in the eyes.

Hel held his gaze for a moment. Then she threw her head back with a patronizing laugh. "Always such a good soldier!" she mocked. "Thinking of others. It does come natural to you, does it not?" The goddess brushed a hand over his metal arm. Bucky winced, trying to shy away. "It is only natural to think of oneself first. You know that, brave soldier mine. Why fight the instinct?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," Bucky replied. His voice slightly stronger now.

"The right thing," Hel echoed quietly. "You will make a fine member of my guard, brave soldier mine." For a moment longer, she scrutinized him. Her expression was unreadable. His face was an open book for her to decipher.

"You didn't answer the question," Fury spoke up. He stood in one of the darker corners of the room with his arms crossed over his chest.

Hel pursed her lips, trying to suppress a smile. "You really don't send Nick Fury to voicemail, huh?" Her eyes flitted between Peter and the Van Dyne – Pym team. "Remember that. When Fury wants something from you, he gets it from you." The corners of her mouth lifted ever so slightly. "He wasn't the director of SHIELD for nothing. And never underestimate him or his subordinates. After all, who was it to send a newbie-rebel-archer after a trained assassin and recruited chameleon after chameleon? Avengers Initiative." Hel huffed a laugh. "So cute."

"I don't remember there being this much talk in kidnapping scenarios." Sam stared at Hel with a stony expression. It at least got the goddess of death to crack a small grin. Barely there.

Hel tilted her head in consideration. "I could disintegrate you on the spot. No one could save you. Or rebuilt you. You'd just be dead." The grin grew. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

"We seem to have vastly different definitions of fun." Quill raised his weapon, aiming for Hel's heart. She merely rolled her eyes. _I wondered when they would get this genius of an idea. As if a little fire could hurt me._

"Let me help you." Hel flicked her hand and the weapon flew right out of Quill's hands along with any and all other weapons the mortals could hold on their person. "Now that's better, isn't it? Now we can all lean back and relax."

"How the hell is that helpful?" Pym growled at the goddess.

"The ant has no quarrel with the boot," she said, as if that explained anything. "And at the moment, we are all ants under Thanos' boot. How then, I ask you are we as insignificant ants to lift the boot that is stamping out our light?"

There was no response from anyone. Not even Peter had a clever idea to respond to that. He merely mumbled something about needing to read up on Shakespeare, when he got home. Whatever that would help him.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hel caught Janet looking at Bucky, providing him with mute coaching to calm down. From what Hel could tell, it worked. Bucky's breathing calmed, his muscles unclenched. Still, he looked tired and worn out. The stress taking its toll even on his enhanced body. _At least he won't think of leaving me now. Plus, he is sitting less cramped._

The door towards the throne room opened. Hel lifted her head to see who the newcomer was. Even, if it wasn't a smart idea, she felt her muscles relax slightly.

With green robes billowing out behind him, his dark hair swept back from his face, came the god of mischief himself.

Loki.

Hel's green eyes narrowed at him in annoyance. _Oh, now we show up? Now the spell is broken? But when I would have needed him, mister my-horns-are-bigger-than-yours has no idea, who I am. Leaving me alone. Defending my realm against a monster of a relative. An imposter! Still, no help. Not even a thought. I should just kill him right on the spot. Would serve him right._

But she didn't.

Instead, Hel said only one thing in greeting: "You're late."

* * *

Loki entered the room with a flourish. His cape billowed out behind him like his very own entourage. The light glinted in his midnight hair. A wicked grin tilted his lips.

Hel hated his guts.

The intensity was unexpected, but not unjustified. _My very own father. Left me. Didn't love me enough to overcome my spell._

"I congratulate you on the spell, my little hellspawn." Loki's grin widened. Hel dutifully ignored the varying sounds of distress coming from her guests upon realizing just who had joined them. With an inconspicuous turn of her fingers, Hel enabled Wanda and Strange to use their magic to their full potential. She was not keen on Loki killing the very people she saved from death.

Loki didn't seem to notice any of it. His eyes were immediately drawn to Bucky, still crouched on the ground, more tired than before. He didn't look at either father or daughter.

A greedy glint glowed in Loki's eyes. "So that's your soldier."

"Hands off." Hel's tone was as cold as ice. Her posture changed slightly, magic weaving into her gown to protect her, especially around the magic wounds she carried from the fight with Hela.

Loki's face split into a wide grin. "No need to get overprotective, little one. It is just one mortal out of the many you have collected." His gaze fell on Bucky. "And I do not plan on breaking him. Trust me."

"Because that went oh so well the last few times." Sam snorted. Everything in his demeanour screamed 'challenge'. From the raised eyebrow to the set of his jaw. He crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to one side. "Last time I checked, you were a bad guy."

"You destroyed New York," Peter piped up. "Like, that was real bad."

"Wait, Loki?" Quill stared at the god in disbelief. "Like Loki, Thor's brother?"

The eye roll of Loki was ignored all around. Everyone was too busy swapping murmured anecdotes about the events of 2012 in New York and before that in New Mexico.

Drax and Mantis took a closer look as well. Mantis's head swayed from side to side, her big black eyes considering Loki. Then, "I remember him from Thor's memories. He thought his brother had died at the hands of Thanos. Thor wanted to avenge him and his people when he went off with Rocket and Groot to Nidavellir." She took a tentative step forward, looking like a mantis about to lure in her food. "Did you trick your brother into thinking you were dead?"

_As if it were the first time._Hel looked towards the ceiling, as if that might have less obvious questions than the mortals around her. Not even Groot commenting in between could help cheer her up. The teen-tree was definitely one of the less stuck-up trees she'd met in her life.

"So, what do you want here?" T'Challa had strolled up next to Fury, both scrutinizing Loki. Maria Hill shifted, her eyes darting towards where her gun had flown. Most likely calculating how much time she'd need to retrieve it should T'Challa choose to attack. His suit was practically sown to his body after all.

"Can a god not visit his favourite daughter?" Loki played hurt. He gave his best performance of almost tearing up, a hand on his heart, lips quivering.

It was Hel's turn to roll her eyes. "You can stop with the theatrics, father." She looked around to make sure that no one was going to attack either her or Loki within the next few seconds. "Why are you here?"

Loki met her eyes and the glint of mischief was right back. A smirk curled his lips. "My dearest Hel. I have of course come to join your little party in hopes of defeating my tormentor."

"And for that you needed to make your brother think you died?" Wanda sounded downright furious. Neither god acknowledged her.

"Why now and why me?" Hel's voice was almost deadly calm. "I placed the spell to forget me over you some time ago. And you didn't remember me. Why do you come crawling back to me now? Because it is convenient?"

Next to Hel, Bucky slowly raised his head to look at them. His eyes darted quickly between them. Hel refused to look at him. _He is safer without the attention of my father on him. Better to leave him out of the whole ordeal as much as possible._

Loki changed his posture yet again, taking on the mantle of an appeasing businessman. "As you put it so nicely: We are all ants under the boot of Thanos. I would prefer to lift that yoke off my neck. There are so many things I still want to do."

Immediately the mood shifted. Every single human and alien in the room tensed, reaching for their weapons. A god of mischief and chaos on the loose was never a good idea. Especially considering many of them were aware of the chaos Loki had spawned on earth with his invasion of New York. Hel let it slide. _They are mortal and feel threatened. They have every right to defend themselves against Loki. I won't stop them. Not this time. He left me alone. When I needed him most, he wasn't there._

Bucky rose to his feet. He loomed in Hel's back, looking Loki squarely in the face. "What have you done?" he asked calmly. Everyone blinked at him in mild surprise and confusion. "Excuse me?" Loki tilted his head to the side.

"What have you done," Bucky repeated, "to hurt Hel?"

Time slowed.

Hel spun around. She stared up at Bucky with wide eyes, speechless. She hadn't said anything along those lines aloud. Still, he cared enough not only to remember her but also to notice her suppressed pain.

Loki narrowed his eyes at the mortal assuming he knew more about his daughter than him. Magic crackled through the air towards Bucky.

Janet raced forward, trying to catch the magic somehow as both Wanda and Strange activated their magic to protect the rest of them. Both looked surprised at how easily they could form the shield.

Hel shoved Bucky out of the way. She placed a wall of magic between them and Loki. Her eyes were ablaze. "Did you just try to kill him?" Her voice echoed from the walls. "Because he told you the truth?" With a ripple, her magic revealed her true form down to the battle armour and swords. "That was a mistake."

Daggers fell into Loki's hands. He got into a fighting stance. At the same time, green wove through the barrier around the mortals, strengthening their defence. Lastly, with a mumbled apology, Hel wrapped her magic around Bucky.

* * *

The gods stared at each other. Loki wore a slightly twisted grin while Hel glared. Neither made the first move.

"I told you: He's off limits. You knew there would be consequences to your actions."

"Aren't there always?"

Hel charged. Flying daggers shot towards Loki's face with practices ease. Loki deflected them and launched his own daggers. Hel twisted out of the way, allowing for the fabric in her back to rip but protecting her skin with her magic. "I fought against Hela. On my own." Her sunset eyes seemed to be on fire. "Do you think, you are any match for me after that?"

Loki's expression hardened. He let another salve of daggers loose, using the time Hel needed to defend herself to multiply himself. "I fought her too. It was not an easy feat."

"I survived her." Hel launched her magic around her. The doppelganger disappeared. Loki still stood in the same spot as before. "I fought her, and she almost killed me!" Hel twirled, kicking out with her magic. Loki deflected her hit with a wave of his hand.

"She is still out there and if she knew I was alive, she would kill everyone I care about just to get to me and finish me once and for all."

With a cry, Hel clashed her sword against one of the flying daggers. "I wiped everyone's memory just to keep them safe. I hunted her down on my own. All alone, because no one cared enough to remember me!" Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She leaped at Loki. "Least of all my own father!"

The silence following her last scream was deafening. Hel stood before Loki, her sword at his throat. He hadn't even moved to defend himself against her in any way. The god only looked down at his daughter with shadowed eyes. All around, the mortals stared in awe and pity at Death.

With a sob, Hel dropped her sword and collapsed into her father's chest. "I was so alone. All alone."

Loki wrapped her in his arms. He stroked her hair and rested his chin on the top of her head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hurt you. I promise to be there for you from now on."

Green clashed with grey as Loki and Bucky made eye contact. The men looked at each other. A silent agreement flitted between them. They would do anything to keep Hel safe. Safe and out of harm's way. Come what may.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 4**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 4 Team up

Hel calmed down quicker than expected. Or maybe she just shut her emotions out. Bucky wasn't quite sure. _I'll just keep an eye on her from now on. If she told the truth, then she bottled up these emotions of betrayal for far longer than I can imagine._

He looked back at Loki, the cause of many problems. The god of mischief stood back, observing the room, taking in everything he could see. It made Bucky's senses flare. Something about him just scratched him the wrong way. And it wasn't just his attack on New York, which injured Steve more than he let on. Loki's treatment of Hel and her anger against him set Bucky on edge as to what this god aimed at.

"Down, boy." Loki shot Bucky a secretive grin. Bucky's scowl only deepened, which in turn seemed to delight Loki.

Hel stepped forward, facing the crowd, still eyeing her father with distrust. "Listen. I know the start of this wasn't exactly ideal." Her eyes flitted to Wanda. "But we need to put our differences aside, if we want to make this work. If we want to defeat Thanos and help the forces on Midgard as equal allies, we need to make an effort to become a single unit."

"What the hell is Midgard?" Quill wondered. He shifted his weight to the other side, hands coming to rest on his hips, as if he was about to initiate some strange dance Bucky had seen during his recovery.

"Midgard is their name for Earth," Doctor explained. He sounded exasperated. As if anything going on at the moment was far below his standards.

"Well, I'm from Missouri."

Spider-boy frowned. "But… Missouri is on Earth. Didn't we clear that up before?" He looked utterly confused, which summarised Bucky's overall impression of a lot of things perfectly. Especially anything he had been faced with since his escape from HYDRA.

An involuntary shudder ran down his spine.

"Everything okay, man?" Sam's voice was soft. Still, Bucky jumped. Only his months in Wakanda and a good portion of self-control kept him from tackling Sam to the ground.

"Don't creep up on me like that," he grumbled.

Sam merely grinned his trademark smirk. Bucky rolled his eyes. "Hasn't been okay for a long time. Slowly working my way there. You?" _Might as well give him the courtesy of asking about his feelings when I'm at it. Sam usually pays more attention to others than his own wellbeing._

"Dunno. It's all very strange. I mean: We're here with a couple aliens, a magician, spider-boy, some random people, the King of Wakanda, Fury and Hill and two gods. Whatever can you count as normal anyways?" Sam shrugged, as if that explained anything. Bucky didn't question any further. To be honest, he didn't know how. He wasn't good at this kind of thing these days. Once upon a time he might have been analysing and devising a plan to best help them all, but lately…

"Bucky, Falcon, are you coming?" Hel called. She and the rest of their illustrious gathering waited by the door towards some unmarked hallway. Loki held the door for everyone to go through. Wanda made up the rear looking back over her shoulder at the team members she spent most of her time with over the past few years. "It can't be worse than already," she told them, her accent lending a gentle sway to her words.

Hel didn't comment, merely raised her brows at the two men.

With a nod, Bucky started towards the door, following the others, Sam and then also Wanda close at his heels.

"So how do you know her?" she whispered as soon as Loki closed the door behind them. Bucky felt a sense of unease settle over him, sharpening his senses, especially towards the god. _I bet he knows the story. If he knows, who I am then Loki has to know the story of how Hel found me… _His eyes wandered to the groups of people, still not really intermingling, walking in front of them. _And I bet they are listening for my answer as well…_

He took a deep breath against the rising unease. "How much of Steve's history do you know?"

Wanda thought for a moment. Sam considered his question as well. They both knew Steve as he presented himself nowadays. But did they try to find out anything about past beyond what documentaries, museums and history books tell them?

In front of them, Spider-boy tilted his head. _I have at least one extra attentive listener._Bucky almost grinned. Somehow this kid reminded him a lot of his Stevie. The tiny, asthmatic one he had to get out of whatever dangerous situation he managed to get himself into. The Steve that wanted to serve his country whatever the cost may be.

"He's never looked like that before," Loki sneered. "What's the matter soldier? Caught up in memories?"

Bucky's head snapped up. The little smile vanished as if it had never existed at all. Suddenly he was back in one of the labs, staring up at the menacing face of a man in white, probing at his arm. The stump of his arm. "Does it bring back memories, Sergeant?" an oily voice crooned somewhere to the left.

A sudden panic exploded in his stomach, clawing its way up into his chest, his lungs, his heart. The metal arm whirred softly as he readjusted his stance. Muscles clenched, ready to fight should he have to.

He saw Sam and Wanda looking at him. Worry written all over their faces. Sam said something. The words slurred together as if Bucky was underwater. The sounds just didn't make any sense. _What is he saying? Why can't I hear his words? Steve. Steve is all alone. Always alone. I left him again. They're staring. No. Not a lab rat. Never. Why are we here?_

Someone pushed through the crowd towards him.

Bucky reared backwards, almost tumbling over his own feet. _Need to get out. Yes, out. Just out. Why can't I hear the words? Stevie._

"Don't let them make me hurt him!" Bucky stared into nothing with wide eyes. "I don't want to hurt him!" His ears were filled with static. _Not underwater. Were? Where am I?_

"I saved him. I saved him the same way I saved you." The words broke through the haze. Bucky couldn't make sense of them, but they sounded familiar._Repeated? Before? Do I know them?_

"You are the bravest soldier I ever knew. You are my soldier. And I promise to be there for you until you can believe that yourself. You're stronger than any other Midgardian I encountered." The words echoed in his head. Bucky couldn't pin point, if it was an old memory or someone speaking to him at this exact moment. _Who said it? When? Why did I hear that? I'm not a lab rat._

"Where are you?"

Bucky shook his head. "Cold. Alone. Dark. Why is it cold?" His voice sounded frightened. He didn't like being frightened. No. Frightened was bad. Frightened meant pain. Bucky shifted his stance. His arm whirred again. It irritated him. The sound grated on his ears, but it belonged to him, didn't it? It had to.

Something crunched in front of him. With the reflexes of a wild cat, the noisy arm shot out and grabbed. _Someone snarled. Did I snarl?_

More noises. Gasps, his mind delivered belatedly.

"Bucky," someone said. They sounded slightly strained. Bucky followed the voice. It belonged to a female. Young. Dark hair and bright eyes. A metal hand was clenching around her neck. _That explains why she sounds so strange…_

"Bucky," she said again. _Why does she call me that? Is that my name? _"Find yourself," she went on calmly. "You are James Buchanan Barnes. Your best friend's name is Steve. You love plums." Her green eyes bore into his. Demanding him to remember. He squeezed his eyes shut.

_Hel._

_Her name is Hel._

Hel didn't let his lack of response deter her in the slightest.

"Five things you can see," she instructed him. Bucky kept his eyes closed. Only his twitching fingers betrayed his counting of things to see.

"Four things you can touch," Hel went on. His eyes slipped open. Everyone stared at him, but Hel didn't allow him to concentrate on that.

"Four things you can touch," she repeated insistently.

Bucky's eyes still didn't linger on things too long, his feet spread, ready to move in any direction. Ready to run or attack.

"Three things you can hear," Hel said. After that, she kept her breathing slightly louder than before. Just steady calm breaths for him to count along. Four seconds in, hold for seven seconds, out for eight seconds. And slowly but surely his breathing pattern matched hers. Calm and steady. Four seconds in, hold for seven seconds, out for eight seconds. The hand around Hel's neck unclenched, fell back to his side.

"Two things you can smell."

Bucky closed his eyes, concentrating. He could smell leather. Probably either Loki or Quill. Both had a thing for the fabric. As uncomfortable and unwieldy as it might be. Something else struck his nerves. A smell he didn't know how to sort. Exotic. His eyes fell on Wanda.

"One thing you can taste." _Plums._

His eyes snapped back to Hel. She watched him with passive eyes, awaiting Bucky to acknowledge her. He gave her a tiny nod. Hel returned the gesture with a soft smile. "Well done, brave soldier mine," she praised quietly. "You did well for me. You are loved. Cared for. No one can harm you now. You're yours."

"I hurt you."

"No, you didn't." Hel lifted her chin. Her neck was perfectly even. No scratch or marks where he had grabbed her. "I'm not a mortal. You cannot hurt me." The scar on her cheek seemed to glow softly. The hard glint in her eyes was the only indication how much Hel hated Hela for inflicting it.

"Now that we have all seen you two reconnect so prettily, would you mind, if we moved on?" Loki drawled. He leaned against a wall, inspecting his nails. Everything about his posture conveyed boredom. Still, Bucky had a feeling, the god had seen more than anyone else.

The older woman approached him slowly. "Would you mind if I gave you a bit of energy?" She held the palms of her hands out as if that explained anything. Bucky frowned. His eyes wandered between the woman and her hands.

"I was stuck in the Quantum Realm for over thirty years," the woman finally explained. "Janet Van Dyne. I just want to help you get over the energy loss."

Her eyes were an almost startling grey. Wise maybe beyond her age. _Or maybe just beyond her time? If she truly was trapped in another realm, then she is just as much out of time as I am. Maybe even more. She lived a different life and her family had to carry on without her._His eyes flickered to the woman and elderly man behind Janet. They both looked solemn. _They do seem like a nice family._

"Okay." Bucky placed his hands in Janet's.

A surge of energy flowed from her into him. The hollowness that slowly spread in his gut receded. Like a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He blinked. _That's new. Normally, I'd need to lay down for a bit to recover from my panic attacks. Even minor ones. _"Thank you."

Janet gave him a reassuring smile. "You're welcome. Anytime again." She folded her hands in front of her and stepped back. Her husband was by her side immediately, murmuring something. Bucky allowed them their privacy. As much as that was possible in a small corridor with almost twenty people cramped together.

Wanda and Sam came closer to Bucky, ignoring Hel, but eying Janet.

"Are you alright?" Wanda asked quietly. "I'm sorry, if we said something wrong."

"No, you didn't." Bucky shook his head.

Sam looked at him. _He probably knows better than anyone else how it feels. Coming back from a war and having to settle back into civilian life._

"I used to drive around plastic bags in the streets," Sam supplied just as quiet as Wanda. "It always takes some time getting used to being back. Civilian life is not cut out for everyone."

"Is that why you threw yourself back into the frame first chance you got?" Hel asked tartly. It was a rude question to ask. To even consider asking someone you didn't know very well. Even more so, since she couldn't tell, how Sam might react to that question. _Not even I can, and I've known him for quite some time. Not because I liked him so much, but still._

Sam however, merely gave Death a look. "And how would you know? Been spying?"

"She doesn't need to spy," Loki laughed. He shoved off the wall. The gods exchanged a sour look. "Still, where it used to be?" Hel nodded her head once and let her father pass.

"Actually, take Fury, Hill and his Majesty with you, please. No tricks or traps. Lead them there. They might need the time." Hel called after him. And despite their confused stares, the three were pushed after Loki by a magic wind. "Try to keep up. Father tends to play with others."

"And you don't?" Doctor shot back with an undercurrent of annoyance. "We have been standing around for far longer than necessary. First in that hall and now here. I don't see, how this plan is superior to mine."

Hel gave him a smile as sweet as honey that had the aliens reach for their weapons. "Doctor Stephen Strange. Are you even allowed to call yourself 'doctor' anymore? I heard a whisper you lost control over your hands in a car accident. And suddenly the grand god in white became a helpless man with a beard. If I recall correctly, your ex wasn't even aware you two even had been dating."

Doctor Strange straightened his back, a mask of calm falling over his face. It only made Hel's grin broaden. "Don't tell me I struck a nerve." And then she giggled.

Bucky glanced around. Sam tried to hide an amused smile behind a cough. Obviously unwilling to show his appreciation of her taunting. Spider-Boy on the other hand had no such qualms. His face was an open book. And at the moment he was very surprised and slightly impressed with Hel's nonchalant assessment of the magician.

Without even waiting for a response, Hel brushed past Doctor Strange to the front of their little progression. "We're almost there."

* * *

The rest of the way passed away in silence.

Bucky felt Sam and Wanda watching him, keeping an eye out for anything that might upset him. And he found he didn't mind as much as he would have before. _They have already seen two of my panic attacks. There's hardly anything that might surprise them now. _His brain immediately delivered the image of him shutting down until he was almost back to Winter. Bucky shook his head. _That hasn't happened in a while. I was close last time, but ever since Wakanda… Something about Shuri and her understanding of healing has helped me to overcome the persistent fear of turning into Winter without any warning at all._

Their group came to a halt in front of a door. Just an ordinary door with no markings or anything on it. Nothing like Bucky expected. He only knew doors with markings and patterns etched along the frame. Each and every single one a symbol of Hel's heritage as a Norse goddess.

"We walked that far to get to a door?" Quill snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Wow. I'm impressed."

"Doors open. There has to be something behind the door," Drax delivered helpfully with the insect-woman nodding along. Her big eyes skipped between Hel and the door in great interest, as if she could sense something no one else could.

"I presume, we are looking for whatever is behind that door," Janet's husband pointed out. "And whatever that is, has to be important to our cause. Otherwise she wouldn't have allowed the other one to take the tacticians on their own."

"Good deductions, professor." Doctor Strange straightened his cloak. In Bucky's eyes he just tried to look important. _He reminds me of Stark. Those two do share an awful lot of similarities…_

"So why don't we wait with our senseless chatter until she opened the door, hm?" Hel said in a sweet tone and an even sweeter smile. Quill's hands twitched.

"This is getting old, really fast." Sam rolled his eyes. "After you, oh goddess." He made a show of bowing to Hel, which she at least quitted with an honestly amused smile and a soft "I like you."

Without waiting any longer, she opened the door. Bright light flooded the dim corridor. Bucky had to shield his eyes to avoid getting blinded. Inside he could already hear excited chatter. T'Challa's voice was among them along with Fury and a few words from who he supposed had to be Hill, and –

He moved before he even realised it. Without paying any mind to the other's protests, Bucky pushed to the front of their little group and past Hel._It can't be._

"And then I was like 'Yo, watcha doing?' And she was all like 'Saving you from your death.' And it's a really nice thing to do. So I never actually saw the land of the ancestors like you did. I just came here. Straight from the Snap so to speak."

Bucky stopped and stared. Maybe his mouth was slightly ajar at who he saw in the middle of the room.

Shuri looked up. Her hair was still in her Leia-buns and she was wearing an orange windbreaker with her favourite black tank top painted in Wakandan symbols as well as matching back jeans with chunky boots.

A wide smile lit up her face. Shuri shoved past the other adults, ignoring Fury's frown at being ignored. "White Wolf."

"I told you that's not my name." Bucky returned the smile. _I'm so glad she's okay. Or at least as okay as being in the underworld can be._

"Oh, you know you like it." Shuri's eyes sparkled with mischief as she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "I'm glad you're well."

"Yeah, me too." Bucky returned the hug.

"This is amazing!" A voice shouted behind them. Bucky and Shuri turned to find Janet's husband staring around in complete awe with Spider-boy right behind him with a similar expression on his face. Hel leaned against the doorframe with a self-satisfied smirk. _Like a cat that got the cream. She'll be insufferable for a while…_

Shuri walked around Bucky towards the new people looking around in her new lab. "Welcome to my humble home. I hope you like it. Just don't touch anything that might explode." She broke into a fit of laughter as Spider-Boy quickly put the weapon he had examined back down. He looked sheepish until he heard her laugh. Then he gave an awkward laugh as well.

"So, you're the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, huh?" Shuri bobbed on the tips of her toes. "I always wanted to meet you. You inspired me to experiment with power enhancement and web liquids myself."

"Um…" The boy rubbed at his wrist. "My name is Peter Parker. And uh," he blinked quickly, "This place is really cool. Is this all yours?"

"On time," Hel chimed in. She effortlessly wove her way through the crowd towards the two teenagers. Bucky didn't miss the charming smile the women exchanged. "I provided Princess Shuri with all the equipment she is accustomed to from home – with a few extras – and she built whatever contraption you can see here."

The rest of the adults looked around the room once more. It was an impressive array of tables and shelves all filled to the brim with tools and screens Bucky couldn't even begin to fathom the use of.

"And why are we all gathered here?" Fury asked. "You didn't just get us here to show off the good in your heart."

"Oh, I like him," Loki purred from where he stood, forgotten. "Always so critical. Suspicious."

"And with good right," Hill fired back immediately. She glared at the god with venom. _A surprise, Loki doesn't just burst into flames. There is a lot of bad blood between them. I wonder if Hel will be able to control all these hot heads around one another. Especially, if her father meddles with the process._

A sigh drew all the attention back to Hel. She had her hands on her hips and looked displeased with the behaviour of the three. "Please. You are my guests. My father is, I am well aware, not the easiest man to get along with. No, you cannot comment on that, Dad." Hel fixed Fury with a stare. "You can be suspicious all you want. I appreciate it. It is an honourable trait to have. But I'd like to ask you to dial it down a notch for the sake of our mission. After we beat Thanos you can judge us all you want. Do we have an accord?"

For a moment the lab was filled with deafening silence. No one even dared to breathe too loud as Fury and Hel stared each other down. Neither said a word.

"I'm separating you into groups for optimal preparation for our attack on Thanos." Hel went on, still staring at Fury. "Tacticians, Magic Boot Camp and Science Department, as well as General Combat Training."

"I am Groot?" The tree spoke up for the first time in a long time. He approached Hel with questioning eyes. "I am Groot," Hel responded with a nod.

"She's talking to a tree," Janet's daughter mumbled. "And it's a wonder this is not the strangest thing to happen in the last hours."

"Groot is an elective on Asgard," the insect-woman helpfully delivered. "Thor did know of it as well."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Thor always was such a big softie. It is revolting."

_But also helpful. She seems to be the only one capable of communicating with … Groot for the time being. So it's not as useless as Loki makes it out to be._

"Keep your judgement to yourself, mortal," Loki hissed under his breath in Bucky's general direction as if sensing his thoughts. But Bucky merely shrugged. He had done nothing wrong.

"So, how do we do this?" Sam wanted to know. "Do we just roll a die who goes in which team or did you figure that out already?"

Hel smiled. "What do you think?"

"Of course, she has a plan ready." Shuri almost bounced with excitement. "Hel can be very helpful when it helps her own aims. And she is surprisingly adept in the arts of invention for an old goddess."

"If she's old, then what am I?" Loki looked less than pleased.

"Ancient," Hel and Shuri retorted in unison and with matching evil grins. Loki stared at them in astonishment, only catching himself when Peter snickered. Then, a scowl slithered over his features, darkening them back to what the public New Yorker image of him was. A dark being not from earth. Dangerous. Unpredictable.

Hel nudged Shuri in the side with another secret grin. _Those two must have spent an awful lot of time together to be this close already…_Bucky felt a little pang of jealousy.

"Okay, enough with the games. Let's get this party going. I thought about it long and hard, especially considering our very different backgrounds in education on the different fields of combat. Fury, Hill, T'Challa, Sam, Hope and Starlord. You're the tacticians." A magic wind shoved the newly formed team together. Only Quill tried to struggle against it, but found his feet rooted in spot by invisible traps. "Please refrain from changing groups for now," Hel requested. "It only makes things more complicated. Thank you. Tacticians, I need you to help me keep track of the movements of Thanos and organising our own plan of battle, as well as making any additional changes as needed."

Next, she shoved Janet's husband, Peter and Shuri together. "Welcome to the Science Department. Shuri, you introduce the boys to everything around the lab. Concentrate on making weapons fit for each individual in our group. Consider safe testing grounds. Ask for anything you might need in addition. Make it big and make it powerful. We need to knock Thanos down."

Shuri gave Hel a thumbs-up and a wild grin. "Sure thing, Queenie. I'll take them under my wing."

"We'll knock him out." Peter seemed slightly unsure about their success, but he tried his very best to fake it. Considering he stood next to the only person probably more intelligent than Tony Stark himself, he was going to be in good hands.

Only Janet's husband looked slightly dissatisfied. "Why do I have to work with two teenagers?"

"Because teenagers are your future, old man." Shuri gave him a feral grin.

"You'd do good not to underestimate my sister," T'Challa said gravely. "Or you might hit a suit on her request and be busted across the room by her kinetic energy rebound." And if that didn't sound both strange and terrifying then it at least seemed to prove to Janet's husband that Shuri was indeed clever enough to work with him.

Seeing the end of the discussion, Hel turned back to the remaining people. Her eyes swept over each one in consideration. There were Wanda and Bucky, Doctor Strange and Janet as well as the insect-woman, Groot and Drax. And of course, Loki.

"Okay. I need my Magicians. Wanda, Doctor Strange, Groot, Mantis and Janet. Please form a group by the table with the necklaces. Thank you. You are all capable of doing magic of some sort and with differing rates of success." That got her an evil glare from Doctor Strange. "You all need to be able to control your powers as best as possible. And that is why," Hel held out a hand, "You are entering Magic Boot Camp. With the help of my lovely father you will all learn to target and harness your powers according to your needs. Please, assist but don't kill each other more than necessary. I'm no fan of reviving the half-dead."

Bucky found himself frowning. _That leaves Drax and me. What could we possibly do? What do we have in common?_

"Don't worry, brave soldier mine. You both have very important tasks as well." Hel turned towards Drax first. "Drax, I need you to be in charge of the General Combat Training. You can fight with many different weapons, right?"

Drax visibly perked up. "I can fight with any weapon. No weapon stands a chance against me."

"Sure thing." Hel grinned. "You will spar with anyone who asks you for it. As for the rest of you: Make a plan for a rotating system of weapon's training and hand to hand combat. Go to Drax for any weapon-related fighting and find me for the hand to hand combat."

"Why you?" Peter frowned. "Are you an expert in martial arts?"

Hel shook her head with a fond smile. "No, but my brave soldier is, and he will stay by my side whenever he isn't combating with any of you." Hel looked up at Bucky then. "You promised to be my personal guard. Now let's put you to the test. Personal guard and advisor in one. How does that sound?"

_Like too much responsibility. You shouldn't trust me so much._

"Sounds good," Bucky found himself saying with a content smile.

Hel beamed back, the scar on her cheek stretching. "Great. Then it's settled. And on we go. Let's beat Thanos."


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 5**

A/N: Sorry I didn't update last month. I was on holiday and lost track of time ^^'

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 5 Home, sweet Home

Natasha Romanoff stared off into the distance. It was entirely unlike her to be inattentive. And she wasn't. On the contrary, her thoughts had never been clearer than in this moment. Around her, the remaining Avengers and Wakandans held a council on how to proceed.

_There is nothing to discuss, really. They turned to dust. And we still don't know what happened to Tony since he went up into space._

"We lost," Okoye practically snarled at Steve. "I saw my king die right before my eyes. For the second time. We lost, Captain."

"There has to be something we can do," Steve shot right back. Natasha could see the circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. The loss of Bucky and Sam was definitely taking its toll on him. Even, if Steve would sooner die than admit to it. He had a role to fulfil. And at the moment that seemed to involve standing toe to toe with the only available remainder of T'Challa's inner circle. _I don't even want to imagine, what Queen Mother Ramonda has to go through. Losing both her children like that…_

"We need to find out if Tony is still alive first," Bruce said. "I'm sure, with his help we will figure something out."

Natasha almost laughed. Their little feud was not forgotten just yet. True, they were fighting as a team against Thanos, but that didn't mean anything. Not with the red in their ledger.

Natasha calmly looked up._"_Thanos did exactly what he said, he was going to do." She had their attention now. "He decimated everything by half. And without the gauntlet and the stones we are unable to do anything to avenge the fallen." Her eyes hefted onto Steve. He was their leader and he was the only one who needed the deeper message hidden in her words. "Until we find him, we have no chance of saving anyone."

"She is right," Thor rumbled. Since his return, he stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows and stared out at the battlefield in the distance. His need for revenge had only doubled after he had failed to defeat Thanos in combat and the snap happened. Natasha wasn't quite sure, if the King of Asgard blamed himself for what happened.

Thor looked back at the rest of the room; let his eyes trail over every single one of them and – it seemed – over everyone missing in the royal chambers. His eyes were dark. Natasha tensed slightly, feeling a prickle of electricity in the air. Mjølnir lost, Stormbreaker loosely held in his hand, Thor looked every part of the alien warrior he was.

"We must find Thanos. And we must take his head. I cannot rest before the fallen are avenged." Thunder rumbled outside the window. They didn't turn to look. Not even Okoye, who just met Thor. They all looked at Thor with grave expressions.

Natasha shifted her weight. "You're right," she nodded her head, "but first we need to find out who survived. We need to know what we're dealing with." The hitch in her voice was almost unnoticeable. Steve still looked at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to crack with panic or worry or something else. _He should know better._

She raised her chin, made a show of looking at each in turn. "Once, we know the strength of our forces, we can find Thanos and kill him." The short blond strands brushing against her temples were suddenly annoying. _I'm not a white lamb. I am no innocent. Whoever died did so because I – we couldn't stop Thanos. I hope Clint is okay._

As quickly as the thoughts came, she pushed them back. Unwilling to indulge them even for a minute. People died. Thanos won. They needed a plan to fix it. And that was that.

"Whatever it takes." Natasha calmly met Steve's eyes. The Captain knew her better than probably anyone else present.

A slight incline of the head was Steve's answer. "Whatever it takes," he repeated. The others soon repeated their words, a mumbled rallying cry to unite them all behind a common goal. To defeat an enemy.

* * *

Okoye was the only one not coming back to New York. "I swore my loyalty to the throne. Wakanda needs me," was all she said. No one argued. With both King and Princess gone, Wakanda was in a precarious situation. Okoye and Queen Mother Ramonda had enough on their plate as it was.

Natasha manoeuvred the Quinjet, more crowded than at their arrival, out of the Wakandan territory. In the back, Rocket and Thor conversed quietly. Opposite them, Bruce snored softly. _A talking racoon… I shouldn't be surprised._

Rhodey sat beside her, staring intently out into the open. "We'll find them," Natasha said. "And Tony can take care of himself."

"Damn right," Rhodey responded. "Still. I don't like it."

"No one does." Steve leaned against Rhodey's chair. He looked tired. As if leaving Wakanda and the spot Bucky had collapsed at had sucked all of his remaining energy right out of him.

Natasha flicked one of the switches before glancing back at him. "You should sleep. There's nothing you can do for now, Steve. Get some rest." She knew even before his rueful smile lit his face, that he would decline. "I mean it," she went on. "For once take Bruce as an example."

Steve chuckled softly. It almost sounded like before. Before they had to run, and fun had been a luxury they couldn't afford often. But Steve's eyes were clouded. There was no happiness in them.

"I order you to sleep, Soldier," Natasha tried another tactic. She felt Rhodey's eyes shift to her, drawn by their interaction. "Go, sleep." And quieter, "We need you fully functional, Captain."

With a nod, Steve drew back. He got into a seat near Bruce, buckled himself in and leaned back. Natasha turned her attention back on keeping them safe on their flight back to New York.

Rhodey still watched her. "Can you teach me how to do that?" he asked. "In case Tony is in one of his moods."

"Oh, I'm sure you know enough methods to get Stark to sleep."

"I do, but none involve just ordering him to."

"It's all a question of will, really." Natasha threw another look over her shoulder. Bruce snored. Thor and Rocket seemed to rest as well. Steve at least had closed his eyes. "A question of will and trust."

Rhodey settled back in his seat. "Still impressive. Wake me, if you want to rest."

Although she nodded, Natasha didn't plan on resting anytime soon. There were thoughts to think. Thoughts she could only order in the silence of her resting comrades.

_Thanos did what he claimed he was going to do. He snapped half of the universe. We have to find out who is left. Who we can work with. Other countries won't be able to re-organise as quickly as Wakanda. The world needs to be stabilized in political matters as quickly as possible. Too many countries falling at once could destabilize Earth even further. We don't have time to deal with reigns of terror. Not any more than caused by the snap._

_Citizens will need to be treated for trauma. Survivor's guilt. Centres for treatment, weekly meetings. Pitching the idea won't be a problem. Let's hope there are enough therapists and volunteers available._

_Whole economies might crash, but that is not our responsibility. That is the job of the government. Even though stabilizing them would help with the organization of everything else. We need an international conference about how to go forward from here. We need to be prepared to assist. Push some buttons to shove decisions into the right direction._

A small smile played over her lips. It had been forever since Black Widow had last messed with any type of government. Natasha let her eyes travel over the horizon, taking in the endless beauty of nature. Looking from above, one would not suspect what just took place. She narrowed her eyes.

_I just hope Clint is okay. After we failed to contact Nick and Maria…_

Her lip curled.

_Focus. You tried. You failed. Live with the consequences. We need a plan. Back to New York, contact officials and see how much damage Thanos caused. Contact any other remaining heroes. Clint. Scott. Find Tony. Bring him back to Earth. Locate Thanos. Find a way to revert the snap._

Natasha clenched her teeth at the thought of the challenges before them. There was not much they could handle simultaneously. Not to think of the unforeseen twists they might have to deal with. But there was no sense in thinking about them now. She had analysed the situation. The next steps were clear, and she had hours left to contemplate the order in which they were best to be taken.

_I just hope Clint and Tony are okay. We need them._She closed her eyes for only a second. _I want my best friend by my side through this mess._

* * *

The hours seemed to crawl. Land changed to sea. Day turned into night. Natasha was careful to keep the quinjet steady as to not wake any of her comrades. Silent breaths all around. It was calming.

Entering New York was hard. Not because of any turbulences. But the damage inadvertently caused by the snap was shocking. Ruins, accidents, wrecks of helicopters and other flying objects that had fallen from the sky with the sudden lack of pilots. For a second, Natasha thought about landing in the street and searching the burning carnage for survivors. A single look behind her dissipated that thought quickly.

Bruce hadn't woken the entire flight. Rocket whimpered in his sleep. Thor's brow was furrowed; defensive sparks sprang between his fingers. Steve was the only one not to show physical signs of fatigue, which was just as bad. _Rhodey and Bruce are only human. But Steve is bound to end up on a suicide mission, if given the chance. Let's sleep first and help second. For once I think the people can handle it._

Natasha's eyes scanned the streets. With her decision in mind she found groups of survivors huddled in the streets around some of the smaller fires, keeping each other warm and comforting strangers. They didn't need immediate help. That time frame had passed approximately when they had crossed the Atlantic.

The quinjet touched down at Avengers Compound. The giant building was dark and empty. Tony hadn't miraculously returned to them.

Rhodey startled awake. "Where are we?"

"New York."

Instantly, he sat up straighter. "You flew all the way here? You could have woken me. That was reckless of you." Rhodey paused as he noticed the ongoing silence around them. His eyes found Natasha's. She was perfectly still, didn't even look like she had just flown hours upon hours from Wakanda back to the US. "None of us woke."

"You needed the rest," Natasha simply responded. "You all were awake far longer than healthy."

"And you weren't?" Rhodey frowned. "You were awake just as long as we were. And if even super soldier Cap had to sleep…"

As if on cue, groaning in the back announced someone waking up. Natasha and Rhodey turned back to see, who it was. Thor and Steve were the first to stretch their limbs. Several joints cracked. Rocket rubbed at his eyes. "Man, that was good rest. Say, do you guys have a toilet? Ah, don't bother." The racoon waddled from the quinjet into the night.

Bruce was the last to rise, stretching and yawning. "Ouch." He rubbed his neck, then twisted and turned in an attempt to loosen his muscles. Another grunt and he massaged his back.

Thor stood from his seat. "I need to search for the remaining Asgardians. My people need their king. And a safe place to stay. Rest." His eyes fell to the floor, his voice thick. "If there are any left at all."

Bruce looked unsure how to respond to that. He patted Thor's arm and mumbled a few words too quiet for Natasha to hear from her seat. Natasha's eyes flickered to Steve for any indication. Captain America was nodding along with Thor, as if he had expected nothing else, but didn't react at all to Bruce's words. _He sorted his own thoughts to get us out of this situation as well. The Man with a plan might just have a battle strategy figured out. We might need to compare notes sooner rather than later._

"Of course, Thor. Help your people. We'll contact you as soon as we find anything on Thanos." Steve paused. "And," he went on quieter, "if you hear anything from Tony."

"Do not worry, I will bring the Man of Iron safely back to you, should I find any lead on him."

"Thank you."

With one last nod and look around, Thor left the quinjet. The Bifrøst flared to life in all its colours. Then, Thor was gone.

"Do you think they all have to be bi to access that?" Rhodey murmured.

Natasha tilted her head to the side. "Well, it's a rainbow bridge." A slight grin tilted her lips. "So there has to be something to it."

"Actually, Doctor Foster discovered it as a variation of an Einstein Rosenbridge," Bruce piped in. "So, it really is more of a connection between two places without any …"

"Are you really discussing that now?" Steve looked tired as if he hadn't just slept for hours on end. Maybe he truly hadn't after all.

Natasha and Rhodey rose from their seats, following the rest out of the quinjet. The lawn in front of the Avengers Compound was still empty and dark. As if nothing lived out here.

Rocket rejoined them, looking around. "So, you live here, huh? Pretty impressive how empty a single perimeter can be." He gave a half-hearted laugh, before going still.

_He just realised, where he is. That his friends aren't going to appear around the next corner any time soon.__As if nothing changed…_

Natasha started towards the compound. Steve would take care of the immediate mourning. He would soldier through it, swallow his own sorrows and see to it that other's felt better. As for Natasha, she had seen enough governments crumble to mourn any of these ramifications. Besides, they would get their friends back. One by one. There had to be a way to undo the snap with the help of the stones.

_That's what we're here for. Locate anyone, who might help us. Tony. Clint. Scott. Defeat Thanos. Whatever it takes._


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 6**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 6 Daybreak

The sun rose blood red on the remainder of the universe. It was nothing Natasha wanted to see. The energy felt trapped in her body, unable to escape. So, she grabbed her ballet slippers and disappeared into one of the closed-off training areas.

Music filled the room. Without thinking, she had put on _Firebird_. The final battle between the beautiful bird and evil sorcerer. Natasha leapt into the music without thinking twice. The Red Room had her memorize the choreography as part of her cover as ballerina. But this was not about that. Natasha made up her own steps, transformed the dramatic battle of ensemble into a solo for the firebird alone._There are no minions to fight the fight. No one will come to rescue you, little bird. Last of your kind. This is what happens, when you lose. You're left alone with red dripping from your ledger._

Natasha made a frustrated sound, bared her teeth. Her blond hair irritated her. She missed a step and fell to the ground. But nothing could keep the Black Widow down for long. With a quick roll she was back on her feet, leaping off the ground in a perfect split as if nothing had happened.

The music swelled, as if accompanying her mood and Natasha followed. Her feet barely touched the ground between furious fouetté leaps, pirouettes and quick steps on her toes. With every almost silent footfall, Natasha felt the energy trapped inside her dissipate – no, transform. Her head cleared. Not only did Thanos win, but New York, her city, needed help with the arrangement of a new order. _Whether they want to or not. I've seen many countries fall. I am a Russian, I don't cry over that._

Without thinking about it, she tipped her upper body back as her leg cut through the air behind her in a graceful arch. A muscle in her back protested weakly. _Still, the people need to feel reassured that there is someone out there looking out for them. And we need to find the rest of the team as quickly as possible. Especially Clint._

Natasha finished another double pirouette without a single hitch or stumble. Her arms outstretched before her, head turned slightly to the side, chin up. She raised herself to the tips of her toes. Her left leg slowly drew to the front to make a step. Without needing to gain momentum, she threw both legs in a kick-like movement up into the air and landed just as quietly as a cat.

"Natasha," a voice called.

Natasha turned her head, seeing Pepper enter the room. Her hair was pristine, her expression strained, her voice brittle. The music swelled to another crescendo as Natasha leaped into the air with one leg after the other in a pas de chat other ballerinas would be jealous of. With a series of quick turns, matching the beat of the music, she landed in front of Pepper.

"Where is he?"

Natasha didn't ask. She lowered her eyes. "We don't know."

Pepper's eyes filled with tears. Her lips quivered, which she quickly covered with a hand. As if showing weakness in face of her missing and possibly dead fiancé was a weakness in and of itself.

The thrumming energy was back. "Thor is off-earth and keeping his eyes open for him. Pepper, I'm sure, if someone can escape Thanos simply by being stubborn, it's Tony. He'll be fine. We'll find him." _I hope._

Pepper set her jaw, shaking off any apparent sadness in the blink of an eye. "I have a company to run. We are short on staff. I never deleted the files of Natalie Rushman." An obvious invitation to do something for the good of the remainder of Earth. An opening to escape the compound any time Natasha needed to.

"Thank you for the offer, Ms Potts. I'll see what I can arrange," Natasha replied calmly.

The other woman nodded in understanding, even offering a small smile, as if saying that even declining would be okay. "We all have to grow accustomed to the new … circumstances until we find a way to bring everyone back. I will arrange a press conference to announce SI's intention of helping out however we can."

Natasha wished she could rip her blond strands out as she noted them falling in her face the more she moved. She wasn't blond. Not innocent, not dumb, not free of blemish. _Let it be a reminder of what we lost. Let it spur my actions towards a quick solution of this mess._

Pepper searched her face calmly. "I refuse to lose hope."

Natasha turned the music off and slipped out of her ballet slippers. She purposefully turned her back towards Pepper to hide her expression. It might have showed too much. In her mind, her new mantra was set on repeat: _Find Clint. Find Tony. Save the lost. Or avenge them._

"It's a beautiful morning," Natasha said once she was done. "Perfect for a walk around town, wouldn't you agree?"

Pepper tilted her head ever so slightly. The subtle nuances of Black Widow she could not decipher. Even after working with Natalie Rushman for almost two years. So, she simply nodded with furrowed brows. "Yes, a beautiful morning for a walk."

"How did you get here?" Natasha asked. They left the training area and walked towards the common area. Natasha knew the rest would be there for a healthy breakfast. There, she could leave Pepper with Rhodey or maybe catch a ride with them back into the city.

* * *

"Pepper!" Rhodey almost spilled his cereal all over the table. His eyes were big and round with surprise. The spoon clattered too loudly in the sombre silence. With a few strides, Rhodey was in front of them and pulling Pepper into a bone-crushing hug. "I'm so glad you're okay. I'm so sorry." His words slurred together in his need to get them all out.

Natasha moved past them, not wanting to invade their moment. Instead, she noticed Steve stress-baking pancakes in the corner. And Steve's pancakes were the best to ever grace Earth. "Morning," she said while snatching two from the stack. They were still warm.

"Good morning. Strange to be back." Steve offered a sad little smile. His eyes were still rimmed in dark shadows. He hadn't slept at all in the past nights. And it was starting to show even with his supersoldier physique. Natasha noted a slight tremor in the hand holding the pan.

"Did you get any sleep?" They both knew it was a rhetorical question. Neither of them had slept the past nights. At least not enough to stock up their energy completely. Both were running on the back-up batteries their past had trained them to develop. Neither a supersoldier in a war nor a spy on a mission could afford being tired.

"I'll manage," Rocket grumbled. He snatched the rest of the pancakes and trotted off to god knows where. The racoon had taken to the compound surprisingly quickly. Since the night before, Natasha had spotted him in three different parts of the compound none of the others ever ventured and that were hard to locate on the security cameras.

Pepper and Rhodey had moved to the kitchen island and picked at some fruits. Rhodey's cereal stood forgotten in the middle of it. They were undoubtedly making plans to find out about Tony's whereabouts.

Steve huffed. "Bruce is still asleep. Or in the lab. He said something about using gamma rays or something to figure out where Tony might be."

"I'll go into the city and see, if I can find Clint."

"Won't he be on his farm?"

"Not, if even one of his family disappeared. Then he'll be out with a vengeance."

Steve looked, as if he wanted to offer his help but thought better of it. Natasha was thankful. She didn't need company right now. She needed time to think and maybe harass some bad guys in a city teetering on the edge of chaos.

"Take care," Steve awkwardly patted Natasha's shoulder. "I'll see, what I can find out from here. Check in with Okoye. Find out how we can get our hands on Tony." No one else would have noticed, but Natasha detected a slight hitch. _He's still hung up on their disagreement three years ago. They haven't spoken since, but now we need the whole team more than ever. And Steve knows it. Well, it was your decision to go against the accords. I backed you for a reason. Still, having Tony here might be worth the leash of the government._

As if on cue, Pepper approached them. "Good morning, Captain."

"Ms Potts," Steve replied quietly. He couldn't look her in the eye. "We'll do everything in our power to find Tony."

"I know." Pepper's smile quivered. "I just wanted to ask, if Natasha wanted to come with us to New York. Rhodey and I have some appointments to make before we can come back here."

"Thank you." Natasha hauled a packed bag from under the sink. She had several outfits fit for missions hidden around the compound and in the city in case she ever ran onto a case without being able to get back to base and change. She threw Steve one last look. "Take a nap. Old men need their rest." It was a bad attempt at lightening the mood. Steve's lips twitched, but didn't say anything.

The energy thrummed inside her. _Find Clint. Find Tony. Save the lost. Or avenge them._

* * *

The drive downtown was silent. Natasha changed in the backseat, which prompted Happy to glue his eyes to the street. He had learned since their last drive. They dropped Natasha in a nondescript alleyway. After a careful look around, Natasha scaled a nearby fire ladder. It felt good to be out and doing something.

Up on the roof, Natasha allowed herself to take a moment to feel the wind on her face. Pepper had pulled her short hair into a mixture of braids and bun. It helped with Natasha's newly formed dislike of her hair colour. She shook her head to clear her thoughts.

Up here, she had the perfect view of the streets below. Apparently, citizens of New York handled the sudden disappearance of half their citizens with a strange sense of grace. The ruins where helicopters or cars had crashed were mostly secured in some way. At least the rubble was cleared enough to allow people and single cars to pass at a safe distance. _Of course, New York first clears the streets to get back to driving everywhere._

Natasha crossed several blocks at different levels, sometimes walking across the roofs of smaller buildings, then scaling down to ground level and observing the scene by foot. Everything appeared to go as expected after a universe-wide catastrophe. Some people were out in the street scavenging for food, others were already driving their Jeep down the free three metres in the middle of the road and honked at pedestrians. Everyone wore a haunted expression, staring around as if hoping to find someone they knew. In the windows, Natasha could make out single silhouettes. These were the ones unwilling to face reality just yet. The energy made her fingers itch. She needed to do something more than just patrol the city. An impression was good. It helped with moving on, but right now Natasha needed to actually do something, anything, against the crippling anxiety of losing everyone that crept up on her like a cold tide.

"Help!"

Natasha's head shot around. Her eyes scanned her surroundings. She couldn't see anything. Then again: "Someone! Help!" Followed by a pained cry and muffled curses.

Black Widow's eyes fixed on a mountain of rubble blocking a barely-lit alleyway from the main street. With only a few leaps, she crossed over its top onto the other side. In the alley, three large shadows loomed over a small bundle on the floor. A small bundle that cried. Another person. Black Widow slunk forward in the shadows.

"Shut up," one large male snarled. "Maybe we won't kill you afterward, if you're nice 'n quiet now."

A silent whimper. A stomp to the stomach. The energy dissipated into well-known concentration before a fight.

"Better listen to him, sweet cheeks. Corey doesn't like it, when they talk," another male sneered. He grabbed the bundle by the scruff and pulled it slightly upright. Black Widow narrowed her eyes. It was a teenager, maybe fourteen, the gang of twens had cornered. They hauled the boy up and pushed him against a wall. Black Widow pulled her gun.

"If you're nice, maybe I'll tell 'em t'go easy on you," Corey purred over the quiet whimpers of their victim. With a quick movement, they ripped his pants down. Black Widow shot.

Corey screamed in both surprise and pain. His right knee gave out. His friends scattered with wide eyes. It didn't matter. One by one they each were hit with a bullet in their shoulder, thigh and foot. None of them deadly, but executed with perfect accuracy. They cursed and searched for the culprit. Their victim slid to the ground, curling up in a tight ball to protect himself.

"Show yourself," Corey demanded.

Black Widow melted out of the shadows, silently revelling in their stunned silence. The fear was almost tangible. "Hello, boys." The flirty smile stood in contrast to the weapon held loosely in her hand. _A legend is a legend. Even, if she started working for the good guys._

"B-Black Widow?" one of the others stuttered. "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere else?"

"Oh, careful," she hummed, "Women don't like to be told what to do." The smirk made room for a mask of deadly calm. "Now, scuttle along and don't dare lay a hand on anyone again." There was no need for further threats. With her reputation the threat was clearly implied. Black Widow noted the victim slowly slipping his pants back up, still curled up on the ground behind his attackers.

Corey visibly swallowed. He raised his chin, gathering his courage. "Why should we listen to you?"

Black Widow shot him in the shoulder without hesitation. "I can do this all day, you know?" She allowed a cruel glint to spear through her mask. The men shrank back as best as they could. "Take you all apart piece by piece. No one would find you. Another victim disappearing into nothingness. Who would miss you?"

Corey looked, like he wanted to argue. Black Widow raised a single eyebrow, adjusting the aim of her weapon to his foot. _I'm in a bad enough mood to not mind a little bit of target practice on scum like you. Come on, fight me. I dare you._

One of Corey's friends was apparently smarter than trying to argue with her. He grabbed Corey by the arm. "Come on. It's not worth it." And together, they hobbled off into the distance.

Natasha sheathed her weapon. With a slow breath, she rolled her shoulders. The energy in her stomach had settled for now. Satisfied with saving a teenager from harm. Once she was sure the offenders actually left, she slowly approached him. "Did they hurt you?"

He stared up at her suspiciously.

"Okay, at least let me get you to a doctor."

"Why did you help me?"

Natasha blinked. That was not a reaction she had expected. Intriguing. "Would you have preferred it, had I not?"

The teenager shook his head slowly. His eyes were lowered to the ground again. Natasha approached him, setting every step so he could hear her progress towards him. "I know a doctor not far from here. I'm sure she'll help you."

"If she's still around." The teenager sounded resigned. "Not like that is guaranteed anymore or anything."

Natasha stood in front of the teenager. "We can clarify that once I get you out of this alley." She extended her hand for him to take willingly. It earned her another suspicious look. _He's smart. After that display just now, I could very well be here to abduct him to another location where no one would find him._

Finally, the teenager accepted her hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet. He groaned softly, his hand wandering to his stomach. His shirt rode up and she noticed the bruises forming on his abdomen. _Hopefully no serious internal bleeding. He's been through enough this morning. He doesn't have to die as well._

And with that Natasha assisted her new charge over the rubble back onto the main street. The morning sun bright above them in the sky.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 7

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 7 Hawk

Luckily, the doctor was still around. She took one look at Natasha and her companion and was running over to help them. "Hello, so glad to see, you made it," she told Natasha. Without waiting for an answer, which Natasha knew not to give, because clearly the doctor had all her hands full with some patients and organisation in general.

"Did a lot of people get injured?"

"Yes and no. Those that got injured are mostly taken care of somehow. I can't tell you how," the doctor gave a flickering smile, "it's all flowing into one another. It's a lot of work." Her hands fluttered over the teen in search for any injuries.

"But you are okay?" Natasha dreaded the answer, but she had to know. _I can't leave the kid here without being sure, he's going to get help._

"My nurses vanished. So I don't know, how long it'll take to get it all back in order, but we are on a good way. We've got a lot of volunteers." The doctor finally looked up from her inspection. "What happened?"

"Some thugs decided it was a good time to get chummy," the teen grumbled. He was obviously displeased with the fact that the doctor was addressing Natasha rather than him.

Natasha's lips twitched into an amused smirk. _He didn't lose his spark that's for sure. Even in the face of imminent danger to his life. _It helped with her next decision as well. "I trust, you will take perfect care of him. I need to go."

The doctor looked up, furrowed her brows. "Aren't you injured as well?"

"Oh no. She just shot them. She's fine."

They both stared at the teen in mute astonishment. A flush crept over his face as he realised that nobody probably ever spoke to Black Widow like that. Before he could stutter an apology, Natasha reached out and tousled his hair. An urge, she hadn't felt in a long time. "Be good and take care."

Without waiting for another reply, Black Widow spun on her heel and headed out. _No more distractions for now. I have to find Clint. We might need him._

And just like that, Natasha found herself back on the roofs above New York. With new-found purpose she headed out. The feed of cameras was always a good start to look for someone.

* * *

_I can't believe it. Not a single trace of him. _Natasha had dropped down upon a police station. Hacking a computer was an easy enough task for her. Even sleep deprived. _Nothing. No trace of Clint anywhere._

Then, she had sought out every single one of his hideouts. The nests scattered around New York. Stark Tower, former SHIELD headquarter, across the street from his favourite sandwich place… No trace of him.

The energy was back.

_I dare Thanos to have killed my best friend. He wouldn't know what hit him. Mortal or not, I have a couple friends powerful enough to fight Thanos eye to eye._

Natasha straightened her back with a dark glare. Below her, under the ledge with Clint's last nest nestled into the corner of some nondescript house, life went on. No one noticed a missing watch post above their heads.

_Like ants. Ants have no quarrel with the boot._

Loki's words, from eons ago it seemed, bounced around in her head. Natasha pressed her lips into a thin line. _No, this is not how it goes. I'm going to find Clint. If Tony escaped the Snap by being stubborn, then Clint escaped by sheer dumb luck._

With a bit of climbing, Natasha returned down to street level. No one even looked at her twice. Whoever remained was busily trying to maintain and restructure their lives. Shops needed new shop assistants, entire empires of wealthy companies lost their entire management. A lone figure descending from a building, especially if it was a redhead, was of no consequence. _Humans can be shallow._

Natasha looked left and right. Maybe she had somehow overlooked something. But nothing struck her as out of the ordinary new chaos. Thus, she melted into the stream of pedestrians. _Maybe, Clint is still out on the farm. His house arrest only ended recently. Not too long before the Snap. Maybe he got caught up there._

A thin shimmer of hope. Not even a shimmer, if Natasha was honest with herself. Logical thinking and her training told her, the best option was to enter the city. Melt into the crowd and find out, what exactly happened. The fact that Clint was obviously not doing exactly this was disconcerting in its own right.

On the other hand, Clint knew the location of the Avengers Compound. So he might just have driven out there to check in on his friends. He had to assume not all of them had made it, if he noticed the snap at all.

Natasha stopped dead in her tracks. Someone behind her grumbled, as they had to walk around her.

Out of instinct, Natasha melted into the corner of an entrance. Her eyes were wide, face otherwise blank. No one stopped. People in shock were not an uncommon sight. New York had its own issues to deal with to take strangers on the street into account. _Clint was out on his farm with his family. There is no one else around for miles. Just the five of them with the dog. _Her breathing sped up. _For Clint to even notice the Snap… For him to notice, if he survived it himself – why didn't I think of it sooner? For him to know means one of his kids or Laura disappeared._

Natasha forced her back into the stonewall in her back. She needed an anchor. She couldn't freeze up. Panic was not an option. Not now. _If Clint knows about the Snap, it's because someone he loves disappeared right in front of his eyes._

Before she realised what she was doing, Natasha sprinted through the streets. Her fingers were numb. Still, they found the earpiece.

"Natasha?" Steve's voice seemed to bounce around in her head. Worried. He sounded worried. And tired. _I told him to take a nap._

"Natasha? Is everything alright?"

"If Clint knows about the Snap, someone in his family disappeared." Natasha heard a foreign emotion in her own voice. It took her a moment to realise it was fear. Genuine fear. Now not because her best friend might have disappeared but because what it would do to Clint to see his family turn to dust. "Steve, Clint isn't in the city. If he's alive and knows…"

"Oh shit," Steve's voice was quiet. A rustle as if he pulled his hair. "Do you want me to come out and help?"

"Where's your motorbike?"

"In the garage – I'll be at Stark Tower in fifteen minutes. Wait there."

The connection cut off and Natasha knew Steve was running through the compound, grabbing what he might need. He'd be with her in fifteen minutes. Just fifteen minutes. She had to get back to Stark Tower. _Calm down._There was nothing she could do right now. Just hope for the best and fear the worst. _Regimes fall every day. I don't weep over that._

Natasha slowed to a jog. Just across the street loomed Stark Tower. Even, if Tony had sold the massive building to another tech company, to most New Yorkers it was still Stark Tower. To Natasha it was also her first home. Before everything fell apart.

_You had a part in that. You're no victim. Concentrate. There are more important things right now than to mourn for what is lost. _The voice in her head was not entirely her own. It was also the voice of one of her instructors. Stern and stiff in her beliefs she had made sure, every Black Widow knew her place and the rules. Natasha searched the street for any signs of an immediate threat. _But I'm the only one to take up the mantle and make it into a legend to be feared. Told as a warning._

Traffic was far less, people even fewer. No one ventured outside much or if, then it was with a haunted expression in search for their loved ones. Natasha thought of the teen she had saved that morning. For a moment she wondered, if he was doing okay and if he had found back to his family yet. And then for just a second, her thoughts lingered on the men who had attacked him. _I wonder if I could find them again and make them disappear. They would have earned it. And what I said was correct. No one would miss them in this mayhem._

The sound of an engine pulled her from her thoughts. Natasha had crossed the street relying solely on her instincts and waited right in front of Stark Tower. The black Harley-Davidson "Liberator" pulled to a stop in front of her. "I'm here," Steve announced unnecessarily. He took one look at his friend's face and dismounted his bike.

Natasha swung her leg over the machine. The energy diminished slightly at the prospect of driving the motorbike herself. She didn't say anything as Steve got on behind her.

As soon as she felt his hands around her hips, she kicked off the sidewalk. With a little sound, Steve reflexively tightened his hold on her. With the reckless speed as if an army of Chitauri was after them, Natasha drove through the city back towards Avenger's compound.

* * *

"The flight is five and a half hours at least." Steve had to walk fast to keep up with Natasha's brisk pace. "You can't fly there alone. Not after what little sleep you had."

"As if you had any more," Natasha shot back. Her temper was rising to any bait right now. It was either explode with worry or in anger at some minor slight. Highly unprofessional, but even super assassins had bad days. Really bad days. Usually anyone at SHIELD would jump out of her way when she walked around with an expression like a thundercloud. But of course Steve just had to pester her with his caring and stubborn refusal to let others dive nose-first into danger like he did himself.

"I know, what I'm doing," Natasha said with forced calm. "Clint might need my help. I need to get to him as quickly as possible. Besides, I can't exactly help with the search for Tony anyway."

"Which is going moderately well," Bruce informed them a little out of breath. He had to jog to keep up with the two super people. "I set some satellites to a likely frequency Tony might use to communicate from space. If he sends a message, we'll be the first to know. And I also managed to adjust other satellites to scan for any off-earthly energy signatures."

"With my help," Rocket shouted across the floor. He leaned against the doorframe and watched the men rush after Natasha. She didn't pay too much attention to Rocket. _So the racoon is a skilled mechanic or something. Good to know. Not the weirdest thing I heard over the last years._

"Natasha please," Steve pleaded. "Let me come with you. Clint is my friend as well and I don't feel good letting you go alone."

He wanted to say something else, but the knife at his throat stopped him in his tracks. Natasha leaned in, glaring. "I can handle myself, thank you."

"I never doubted that."

Out of the corner of her eye, she noted Bruce looking worried and backing away slightly. Rocket seemed only vaguely interested, his arms crossed over his chest. His brows furrowed, as if he remembered something else. _Or maybe someone. Who is to say he never saw someone like me._

"Don't patronize me, Steve," Black Widow snarled. A strand of hair fell into her eyes. Blond. Almost white. Natasha whirled around. With a resonating thud the knife embedded itself in the doorframe. And just like that, the energy evaporated.

For a moment no one said a word.

Natasha clenched her jaw, staring at the knife. "Do what you want. I have to leave."

"Whatever she wants to do, I'd love to tag along. Sounds like real fun," Rocket said. His voice dripped with sarcasm. "Maybe, if you're lucky, she can fillet you and you don't have to live with this damn mess anymore."

No one replied. Bruce looked as awkward as ever. Maybe even more, than at their first meeting after he had disappeared from Earth for two years. Not that Natasha was particularly hurt by it. On the contrary, part of her had been relieved. Their relationship had been a farce. They were better off as friends and allies.

Natasha was the first to move. The spot between her shoulders prickled. Steve stared at her with his puppy concern written all over his face. With long strides, she went to the door. Her knife was deeply embedded into one of the few wooden doorframes throughout the compound. _Tony would be less than pleased with this. But he isn't here at the moment. And he would understand my frustration given the situation. I need to find Clint._

"I'll be back tomorrow at the latest," she said to no one in particular. Steve's quiet footfalls followed her out of the room and into the hangar.

* * *

The engines purred to life beneath Natasha's fingers. It was calming somehow that at least the Quinjet was a steady amidst the chaos. Steve fell into the seat next to her and strapped himself in. Fortunately he didn't say a word. _If anyone can survive and function on days of sleepless nights, it's us. At least I have Steve's competence around. It might not particularly help with finding Clint but I could focus on calming him on the flight back while Steve takes the helm._

Two shadows moved behind the massive glass front. A car pulled into the driveway just as the Quinjet became airborne. Rhodey returned for the night. Maybe with an update from the meetings in New York, or just to check in on our progress with finding Tony. _We're more organised than we should be. We lost our friends or don't know where they are yet. We should be sick with worry, but no, we handle public appearances and make ourselves known to the public. I'm sure, Steve will have to make an official statement during the next days. Governments around the world might turn to either us or Wakanda for help. Somehow amidst this chaos we are still the most level-headed. And that has nothing to do with how the Snap affects us._

The flight passed in companionable silence. At one point, Natasha noted Steve had closed his eyes. Although she doubted, the super soldier was sleeping very deeply. But any rest was better than no rest. _I can feel my body starting to protest. I need to rest soon… _Natasha shook her head. _No, Clint first. I can't rest until I know what happened to Clint. I owe him that much._

Familiar landmarks caught her eye. They were close to the farm. Faster than she had anticipated or at least it felt like it.

"Steve."

His eyes shot open. Of course he hadn't actually slept. At least not in the last couple minutes. Instead, Steve had allowed her what little privacy he could in the cockpit of the Quinjet. Natasha was thankful for it.

Steve didn't say a word as they touched down in the field across from Clint's farm. "A little reminiscent of the last time we were here." Steve's eyes wandered around. There was no one in sight.

"Only for you." Natasha scanned their surroundings. It was awfully quiet. Even for the remote location of the farm. Less birds. Dark trees around the field. The grass moved with the soft breeze. But nothing else seemed to live here anymore. Restless energy filled her.

_This is not good. Something is off. Very off. _Natasha squared her shoulders, still observing her surroundings. Steve picked up on her change in demeanour. He looked around again, most likely still noticing nothing out of the ordinary. _He's not trained in the work of a spy. He's too recognizable for it._

They didn't say anything else. Walking towards the barn and backyard, they both scanned for any sign of Clint and his family. They came up empty. The barn was dark and silent, the backyard empty.

The door to the house stood open. Natasha's heart skipped a beat. _No._

Without a word, she started towards the house. Steve stayed behind, continuing to comb through the backyard.

Natasha strode into the house with purpose and the air of someone who had every right to be there. A look around the kitchen was enough to confirm her fears. _Plates ready to be filled with food. No way someone was here the last couple days. Clint would never be negligent on his food. _She took a step closer in search for maybe another hint. _Food. There's food starting to go bad on the counter._

"Natasha!"

She whirled around on her heel, following Steve's call outside towards the newly built picnic area. More cutlery and food littered the table.

"What is it?" Natasha came to a halt close to the blond. Without a word, Steve held something up for her to examine. Clint's shackle. Broken.

"I found a bow and arrow fit for a child close to the tree over there. And some other toys near the table." Steve furrowed his brows. He looked both worried and sorry. For her? For Clint? _Doesn't matter. We've got our answer._

Natasha took the shackle from him. "They all disappeared." Her eyes travelled over the meadows and farm once more. "There is nothing here for us." She touched her hand to her comm. "Bruce, come in."

"Natasha," came the response.

"Scan for Clint."

"I'm sorry."

The connection clicked off.

_At least he doesn't ask unnecessary questions. Clint saw his family disintegrate. All of them…_Natasha felt tears pricking at her eyes. She shook her head. _No, there's no time for that now. We need to get back. Back to the compound. Keep track of everything. Find Tony and… and Clint. I need to find Clint. His family disintegrated. While I wasn't there. We need them to get everything back in order. Defeat Thanos. We have to…_

"Woah!" Steve grabbed onto her shoulders as her legs gave out. "Natasha. Can you hear me?"

"We need to find Clint," she said. "We need to find him."

Steve lifted her bridal style. "We will. You told Bruce to look for him. We'll find him. But now you need to rest. I'll get us home, don't worry."

Natasha didn't respond. A single blond strand clung to her cheek and fell over her eyes. _I need to find Clint. I got red in my ledger. Whatever it takes to defeat Thanos. I will find Clint. I'm so sorry._


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 8**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

_Happy New Year_ to all of you! Hope you had a good start into 2020! I'll put it up on my profile as well, but since I am nearing the end of university, I think I might _not be able to update monthly_ this year. I promise to figure something out and I promise, I _won't abandon_ this. Please bear with me.

* * *

CHAPTER 8 Team building

"Natasha," Steve's voice broke through the numbness of her mind. "Natasha."

Her eyes fluttered open. She slept throughout the whole flight back to the compound, her body finally giving out. The second she had strapped herself into her seat, she was gone. Luckily, she didn't have any dreams. At least one upside.

"Natasha, we're back," he said.

Natasha just sat up. Without another word she braided her hair back and away from her face. "Let's go."

She almost took a relieved breath when Steve didn't say anything. Instead, they exited the Quinjet. Natasha's eyes swept over the compound out of habit. With the five hours of sleep under her belt, her attention was back on par with what she expected of herself. _No one has been out here since we left. There is no one hiding around here. The car is still in front, so at least Rhodey is still inside._

"Rhodey must be still here," Steve says, observing the area like her. "Hopefully, he found something out."

Natasha didn't answer. She still felt the tiredness deep in her bones. _I need to find more time to sleep, before I can go on any more missions… I owe it to Clint. And Tony._

Steve thankfully got her hint and they walked back into the compound in silence. They entered the building and went straight to the living area. There, they found Rhodey and Pepper perched on the couch and heard Happy bustling around in the kitchen area with Rocket. There was no mistaking the racoon's voice and Happy's grumbled responses. What caught Natasha's attention however, was the additional person, fidgeting on the couch.

It was the teenager she had just brought to the doctor earlier in the day. Immediately, she marched towards him. "What are you doing here?"

His head snapped up, eyes wide upon seeing Black Widow looming over him. His eyes quickly darted around the room. Searching either for an escape or possible allies against her. _He has experience with these kind of situations… Just not like the one this morning._

"Well," he paused, "I wanted to thank you for saving me this morning. And bringing me to the doctor afterwards. She was really nice – and says hi – um… I'm okay by the way." He rubbed at the back of his neck, lowering his eyes to inspect his knees.

"So, you know him?" Pepper asked. "He told us, and we didn't quite believe it, but since he said he had something he needed to give you," she made a vague gesture. Her face was drawn, Pepper looked tired after a day full of chaos and probably having to reign in both the press and her company. Being a CEO was not a walk in the park. Plus, her fiancé was still missing.

Natasha nodded slowly. "He was assaulted in an alley. I scared the attackers away and got him to a doctor. So, what do you have for me that no one else can see?"

The teen looked up at her, then at Steve standing behind her, probably with his arms crossed and a trademark "Come on, son"-expression on his face. It was usually very effective, no matter whom he was talking to. The teen stared for a moment with wide eyes. Apparently, it finally dawned on him. He was sitting in the middle of Avengers Compound with three of the Avengers in close proximity and the fiancée of a fourth close by.

Natasha cleared her throat. His eyes snapped back to her. "Hayden," he said, "My name is Hayden. And on my way back home, I found something in the street, I thought it might be something you would be interested in." Hayden reached into the pocket of his hoody. What he pulled out was nothing like they expected. It was an old-fashioned pager. A simple pager with a symbol on the screen and a sound as if it was sending some kind of message.

Natasha snatched it from his fingers. The symbol was nothing she had seen before. Blue at the top, red at the bottom with some strange kind of shooting star in the middle. _I've seen this pager before. It belongs to…_

"Nick."

The others stared at her in shock.

"What?" Steve stepped closer, peering over her shoulder at the gadget with furrowed brows. Normally, Natasha might make a joke about him and modern everything. But she didn't feel like it at all. No, her stomach was coiling with a wave of nausea. At no point of this chaos had she considered that Nick J. Fury might not make it through a crisis. But the evidence was clear in her hand. He would have never left the pager alone. Not, if it sent some kind of signal.

"Get Bruce, we need to find out what this does," she told no one in particular. Pepper got up and left. The staccato of her heels echoing hollowly down the hall.

Hayden was the first to break the following silence. "So… This belongs to Nick Fury? And you don't know, what it does?"

"What do you know about Fury?" Rhodey shot right back. _A good question considering the circumstances.__I saved him and now he just so happened to have something that belonged to one of our friends? Those are a few too many coincidences for my taste._

Hayden fidgeted, rubbing his hands against each other, visibly uncomfortable. "I'm a huge fan of the Avengers. I researched everything I could get my hands on. Especially, after it all went online." His eyes strayed to Natasha at that. "I mean, it's so cool. You're superheroes. And saving the world and all that!"

"We didn't do a good job of that," Steve said solemnly. "And just so you know, kid, our job isn't easy."

"Oh, I know," Hayden assured them. "That's why I admire you so much."

_He's practically drooling over Steve at the moment. _Natasha chose to focus back on the pager instead. _What does the symbol mean?_

The clicking of Pepper's heels announced her return with Bruce in tow. Hayden looked up with sparkling eyes. Apparently, Steve was not his favourite Avenger after all. Instead, it seemed Natasha had found a little science nerd. _He might have gotten along with Tony and his kid as well… Or Shuri, I'm sure she would have loved to show off her inventions to another white guy._

Bruce and Pepper breezed into the room with Happy and Rocket at their heels. Happy carried a tray of food while Rocket just trotted along beside him. "So," Rocket rested a knife on his shoulder, "What's the kid all about?"

"He has a pager from Fury," Steve offered without looking away from Hayden. He seemed more distrustful of him than was usual for Cap. "We hoped, you could tell us, what the pager is used for."

Natasha got up and handed Bruce the pager without a word. Their hands brushed against each other awkwardly. They were not on too good terms with one another. Only, it didn't matter. Natasha stepped back towards Hayden. In her mind, she had somehow taken over the responsibility for him.

Bruce focused on the pager in his hand. He wasn't an expert on electronics, they knew. Still, he might be their best shot at the moment.

_Or not._Natasha watched, as Rhodey stepped up next to Bruce just trying to push several buttons and see if that changed anything. It didn't. Not even, when Rocket climbed up Rhodey's leg – who was surprisingly calm throughout the process.

* * *

"Well, it seems to be some kind of signal for something," Bruce finally said. Hayden had inhaled most of the food Happy had prepared, while Steve and Natasha had remained standing and alert. Just in case. They had had too many surprises in the last days.

"Extraterrestrial," Rocket added, as if it was perfectly obvious. "But I can't tell, to whom."

"Might Tony pick up on it?" Pepper perched on the front of the sofa. Her eyes gleamed with hope, her body turned towards the three experts. Natasha fought the urge to wince. As much as she wanted them to tell the team they could find Tony with this device, she knew how unlikely this possibility was. _Hayden finding it was the first. Him being able to bring it to us the second. We can't have too much of a lucky streak to also use it to find our missing comrades._

And true to her analysis, Rhodey shook his head. "No, I fear not. But, if we keep it up, we might be able to alternate the signal to enable it to do just that. It seems the signal reaches unusually far."

"Yeah it is." Rocket jumped off of Rhodey and wandered away, as if his work here was done.

Pepper lowered her head. "I hope you can figure something out."

No one said a word. Unable to give false hope when they themselves didn't have any hope left. Happy shuffled to stand behind Pepper's seat. He seemed to want to say something, but was unable to get the words out.

"If you want to, you can stay here tonight," Natasha offered. "In case they find something, they could immediately tell you?"

"Thank you," Pepper slowly rose from her seat, "But I need to be in the office early in the morning. Stark Industries is distributing help packages. We have another press conference scheduled and a meeting with some influential political leaders. They are all looking to us for advice." She sighed, the only indication of how tired she really felt. "I wish I could stay, but there are other people that need my attention as well. I'll come by tomorrow evening with some food."

Pepper stopped in front of Natasha. "I hope you find them soon." She pulled Natasha into a hug. "Clint and Tony," Pepper added in a whisper.

Natasha swallowed against the sudden lump in her throat.

Before she could answer, Pepper already peeled away, saying her goodbyes to the other Avengers just as Happy did_._Together, they left the compound.

An awkward hush followed their exit. No one even seemed to breathe until the sound of the car drew farther and farther away.

_They left Hayden here._Natasha couldn't bring herself to be surprised. _The boy sure knows how to blend in with the background.__And he doesn't look too lost either. Not uncomfortable. Mainly curious. If he found the pager and is such a huge Avengers fan, maybe he can be of help._

"Do you want to go back home?" Steve asked Hayden, as if he just now realised that they still had one guest in the house. "I could drive you back."

Hayden fidgeted again. His eyes didn't linger on any place too long, his hand rubbed at the back of his neck while the other stayed firmly planted on his knee. "No, not really. I," he scratched the back of his head, "My family kind of disappeared? I don't really have anything to go back to?"

They all froze. Natasha knew, their thoughts were running along the same lines: _His whole family disappeared in the Snap. The Snap Thanos promised and caused. We couldn't stop our enemy and now this teenager has no family left because of it. It's our fault._

Rhodey was the first to react. "You can stay in one of the guest rooms. First floor, first door to the right. The wardrobe should be stocked with a couple changes of clothes in case you need it. I'll show you there." He rose and left the room with another short look at the rest of the assembled. Hayden followed him out of the room and presumably to his new room.

With a sigh, Bruce turned the pager over in his hands. "I need to get this hooked up to some computers. Make sure it doesn't run out of battery…" He scratched his head. "Maybe I can hatch something out to make it a two-way signal." The more he talked about it, the less Natasha could keep up with his jumping thoughts. _I'm not quite in your head. That makes it hard to follow you, even, if I have the technical know-how._

Bruce concentrated more on the pager. The gears in his head were visibly turning. He drew back into his brain until Steve and Natasha watched him walk out of the room towards the lab, muttering to himself quietly.

"So," Steve began, "how do you feel?"

_How do I feel? _Natasha discreetly bought herself some time by settling down on one of the sofas. "Not good. We couldn't stop Thanos." She took a deep breath. The energy fizzled in the pit of her stomach. "People lost everything. We lost our friends. There is no way avoiding it. We have to avenge Earth."

Their eyes met. Without a word, they understood their mutual need to deal with their losses but also that they would be there for one another. _Steve may be our leader, but he just lost his best friend. I'm not alone with my bad conscience. Grieving and self-destruction won't get us anywhere._

"Get some sleep," she told her friend.

"You too."

Natasha felt bad for welcoming Steve's departure from the living area. _That means, he can't pester me for doing this._With the elegance of a dancer, Natasha rose back up from the cushions. After another sweep of the room, she turned into the opposite direction of her sleeping quarters. The energy in her stomach buzzed.

* * *

The lights were still as dark as Natasha remembered. It had been some time since she had been here. A shabby building claimed by the underground. The air was stale with the stench of alcohol and sweat. Admittedly, that was no surprise considering the building was mainly used for illegal fights. It was mostly frequented by men. Some of them were members of a mafia or other, some were just trying to earn a bit of extra money.

Natasha had participated in some of these fights as well. It was good exercise before her time with the Avengers. _And Clint loved to bet on the little unassuming woman. We gained quite a bit of money that way. Even got some of our clients here. SHIELD really did send us on some strange errands._Her eyes settled on the bar. _Maybe Clint left a note here. I'll better check._

"Hey, Red," someone called. Natasha looked around and found a burly man in his thirties approaching her. "Long time no see."

With the calm of a trained fighter, Natasha waited calmly for the man to approach her. She knew perfectly well, whom she was dealing with. Not many people would call her Red at this point. Natasha gave him a lazy smile. "Hello, Dimitri. I had things to take care of."

"I noticed." Dimitri's eyes narrowed as if smiling. "Black Widow is a hero now. Or, was. For the longest time."

A subtle movement behind Dimitri's shoulder caught Natasha's eye. Another man was close by, watching them. Most likely a bodyguard of some sort. Natasha fought the urge to roll her eyes. They should know better by now. Black Widow was not easily outnumbered. _Although, taking on this whole bunch of fighters might be too much even for me. _Here yes strayed around the room. Even with the Snap, the underground seemed to be flourishing.

"So, Dimitri, how's Big Daddy?" Natasha crossed her arms over her chest. Playing with the underground was half based on playing tough and half on skill. And not being intimidated by anyone. Besides, they knew each other for at least four years by now.

Dimitri showed his teeth in a flashing smile. "Still up and kicking. He sends his regards." He tipped his head slightly. "And he wants to know, what's up with Natalie Rushman and her possible reappearance at Stark's. Can we expect some new equipment?"

"How interesting. Little birdies working hard, hm?" Black Widow shifted her stance slightly. Her hands fell to her sides, a dangerously calm smile tilted her lips. She didn't need to get in Dimitri's personal space. Intimidation could be achieved on other levels. "Tell your people to keep their noses out of my business, if they want to keep them."

The man in the shadows moved forward. Quicker than Natasha might have given him credit for. With a dark look in his eyes, he stood slightly in front of Dimitri, glaring down at Natasha. _Ugh, great. Big gorilla with no brain to spare. I'd hate to knock him down. He still has all his teeth._She narrowed her eyes slightly. _Does he know, who I am?_

"Are you threatening Mister Dimitri?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow. Not sparing him another glance, she looked back at Dimitri. The man was watching her every reaction closely. _I doubt you'll get much out of this. I'm not in the mood to let anyone intimidate me._Natasha With an annoyed sigh, Natasha shifted her stance to one side and put her hands on her hips."Mind getting your dog out of my face?"

Dimitri looked at her with an amused expression. "Sorry, he's new. He doesn't know the ropes just yet." He didn't even look at his bodyguard. "He's never met a Black Widow," then to the other man, "Stand down, Billy. She means no harm."

But Billy didn't obey. Instead, he eyed Natasha with a mocking grin. "Oh? A Black Widow? I heard they are pretty little lovebirds. Perfect for playtime."

Black Widow kept her gaze steadily on Dimirti. The energy bubbled under her skin more now. It needed an outlet. Dimitri gave a subtle shrug, as if trying to say "His funeral". _Fine by me. If he wants to have his bodyguard taught a lesson on how to obey rules, then I'm all too happy to deliver._

Without even waiting for Billy to initiate anything, trying to make another move on her, Black Widow grabbed at his wrists. She used the momentum he produced in trying to pull free to propel herself up. With little effort, Black Widow wrapped her legs around his neck, causing the bodyguard to lose his balance. Billy landed on the rough floor with an undignified grunt. Black Widow rolled off his falling body, kicking his back to get herself up. She stood over him, not even a hair out of place.

Dimitri cackled. "That'll teach you. Never underestimate a Black Widow." He leant down, grabbing Billy by the neck, growling. "And never disobey my orders again. Or it might just be the last thing you do."

"It was nice seeing you again," Natasha nodded at Dimitri. She didn't wait for a response and made her way deeper into the cavern. _Someone just might know something about Clint. Maybe towards the bar? Or at least a drink or a real fight will be closer towards the bar._

With new-found purpose, she strode towards the bar that was already filled with men either drinking or betting on the fights that were taking place just a few strides away. The bartender closest to her, noticed Natasha approaching long before she was even in shouting distance. His eyes roamed over her figure for a moment, but he didn't let anything show on his face.

"Hey, Red," he said in greeting.

Natasha's first instinct was to ask him, how he knew her. Then again, Red had been her name whenever she came here. Maybe they just passed it down from one to another. _Better safe than sorry. Let's see, what they want from me._

"A Velvet House Classic," the bartender nodded, as if Natasha had actually ordered the drink. Without even waiting for her response, he spun on the heel and went about preparing the drink. Natasha settled in her place at the bar, keeping a calm eye out for any possible danger approaching. _Something tells me, Clint might have come here. It is a place to start, if you need any kind of information about the underground and their information. Maybe he found something we can use to solve some of our problems._

The bartender returned with her drink in hand. As if her instincts had tried to tell her form the beginning, there was a note fixed to one of the bottom of the glass. Clint's scrawl was easily recognisable even from a distance. Natasha's heart skipped a beat. _Please don't._

Even so, she picked the glass up to look at the paper. The note was short. "_My family disappeared. I'm going to avenge them. Don't try to find me._"

Natasha cursed. Her best friend had gone off and left the city without giving her a chance to get to him. To help him. _Why did he do that? It's so stupid. We are best friends. He could have tried to contact me!_

She slammed her fist on the bar, ignoring the startled looks she got from other patrons. It ruffled the paper. There was another simple line written on the other side.

"_I'm sorry, Tasha."_

_No, I am sorry. _Natasha ripped the note off the bar. With energy roaring to life beneath her skin, she whirled away from the bar without paying any mind to her drink. It wouldn't help. On the contrary, getting drunk would solve none of her problems. Her thoughts raced, only increasing the level of energy she felt coursing through her veins.

With a snarl, Natasha threw her body around and stalked towards the arena. She shoved some men out of the way without caring for their angry shouts.

Black Widow didn't waste a second, the first man to actually dare shout back at her got a fist thrown into his face. Her movements didn't stop hitting him directly in the middle. He tried to ward her off, but without any success. The energy was too much to fight against. _Whatever it takes. I'm sorry Clint. I'll find you. Don't do anything overly stupid._

Her breathing was slightly elated. Just enough to tell Black Widow that she needed to take a break before she missed the next hit. She needed to end this fight soon. With a quick succession of hits to pressure points near the back of his knees, head and back, Black Widow sent the man sprawling to the ground.

For a moment no one moved. It was only Natasha standing over the man, him unconscious due to his head hitting the floor, her slightly out of breath. Then a wave of murmurs rose through the crowd. Natasha's head shot up. She immediately found the source of commotion.

There was a presence near the door, steadily moving towards her.

_Oh god._Natasha almost face-palmed. Coming through the crowd with a hoody and cap on his head as well as fake glasses, was none other than Steve. _He couldn't have done it any more obvious, could he?_

Natasha spun around without a look back. She knew her eyes had to be as cold as stone, her face a mask of dangerous calm. At least the people around her parted like they always did then. She passed Dimitri and his bodyguard. Billy openly stared at her like a deer caught in headlights.

To be honest, Steve didn't look much better. He stood between all these people, towering over them and looking stronger than most of the men. And still, Steve looked uncomfortably out of place. It was almost painful. Natasha didn't have the energy to concentrate on that right now.

"What are you doing here?"

Steve held up his hands. "Sorry for coming in unannounced. I was worried."

Natasha narrowed her eyes at him. Steve's cheeks coloured. _That's what I thought. He spied on me. Well, this is not the place to deal with that. _Some of the energy and anger dissipated, leaving her feeling drained.

Steve gave her one of his sad smiles. The one she had seen on him often enough to know it was not out of pity. He just acknowledged their pain. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Not here," she told him firmly. People were still watching them. Natasha was not sure, if they had already figured out, whom they had in their middle. Otherwise it might not end pretty. In passing, Natasha shoved the note into Steve's chest. Together they exited the building. Steve's bike stood just outside in line with the others. _Always paying attention to order. _Natasha almost smiled. _Well, not always._

Natasha settled against his bike, waiting for him to read the note and understood exactly what they had lost. What they had done. What Clint was doing right now. She just couldn't bear to see his confusion, dawning understanding and inevitable pity.

Once Natasha finally did turn around, Steve had his expression back under control. "We'll find him. Just like we'll find Tony. And just like we'll bring back the others."

"How do you know?" Natasha hated the quiver at the end of her question. It made her sound weak. She shouldn't be weak. _You also shouldn't have to be strong in the face of losing your best friend to his revenge fantasies_, a voice in her head informed her. It sounded irritatingly like Steve.

But he just stared at her in silence. Even now, he couldn't bring himself to lie to her. They both knew the truth, had been through enough to know how slim the chances of getting everyone back without losing someone else they cared for were. Lying was not an option. Not even bending the truth.

"I don't know. But I have hope. Thor is out there, keeping an eye out for Tony. Tony is a genius. He'll move heaven and Earth to figure something out. Bruce is already hacking away at this new device with Rhodey's assistance." Steve stared at her. "We need to have hope. Without hope there is nothing left. Without hope, we have already lost."

Natasha snorted. "Where did you pick that up, Sunzi?" She took the note back with a slight bow and put it in the pocket of her jeans. "Thank you, Rogers-huïxià."

Steve just looked slightly puzzled at her sudden use of a Chinese honorific but went with it anyway. "If you want to, I could stay overnight? Make sure you don't have any nightmares."

Another well-meaning proposal. More familiar territory. An opening. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say, you were flirting with me, Cap." Natasha gave him a teasing smirk. "Luckily I do know better. And I appreciate the sentiment. I guess, a bit of company might not be a bad idea. I have a second set of beddings in my closet. You can sleep on my couch."

"Thank you," Steve said quietly.

_It's for both our benefit. Neither of us is really comfortable with being alone right now. Plus, we know how to deal with nightmares. Especially after the years together on the run… _Natasha's head snapped up, her eyes wide. _We're the last survivors of that little party._She spun around to look at Steve, who was just turning his bike around. _And he knew. He already thought of that. How could I not see that?_

Steve took one look at her and could obviously tell what was up with her. Without prompting, Steve stepped up to her and pulled her into his chest. The handle of the bike pressing into her side uncomfortably. "We are going to avenge them. Whatever it takes," and just as quickly he stepped back, "We'll take Thanos down."

* * *

Early in the next morning, the team planned to meet up for a tactical discussion. Natasha was glad Hayden was still asleep in his room. _Apparently, the last couple days were hard on him as well. I'm just glad he has a place to stay for now. Although, we can't keep him here forever. It's just not safe. Well, that's a thought for later._

Bruce came by with a toast in one hand and a stack of papers in the other. Without even looking up, he began talking. "Rhodey and I hooked the pager up and overrode the battery. The signal is still sending. We need to make a couple more tests to find out what exactly the signal is trying to attract." Bruce handed the toast to Natasha in passing. It was peanut butter. Her favourite. _He still remembers that…_

She blinked down at it. "Thank you."

"Rocket and Rhodey are investigating the intergalactic waves, so we might be able to modify them and reach for Tony. I'll keep you updated on any progress we make. We also pulled up the maps for you and Steve to look over the current events. Pepper gave her input via the phone." He paused, turning the page, then looking up at Natasha. "She also said, you shouldn't feel pressured to come back as Natalie Rushman for the press conferences. It was just a quick idea of hers."

Natasha blinked again. _A surprising change of course… Maybe Pepper feels like she is being a nuisance or putting too much pressure on us. I should drive by Stark Industries later on today. The sentiment of keeping my alias around even after exposure just in case I need an opening at Stark Industries again may be not the cleverest idea, but it's nice as well._

But Bruce didn't even wait for a response. Something in the papers caught his eye and he spun on his heel. Without another word, he disappeared into the direction of the lab.

Steve stepped up next to Natasha. "I hope they slept a bit last night."

"Let's get to work." She placed the toast on the countertop. _Maybe Hayden will find it when he wakes up._

* * *

A couple hours later, Natasha felt the by now familiar energy buzzing under her skin. The situation was far more serious than even she could imagine. Together with Steve, she watched the numbers skyrocketing. More and more people were reported missing. Snapped out of existence. _Because we couldn't help them._

Steve leaned heavily on the chair in front of the holographic display. "This is a nightmare," he said quietly. Natasha could detect more emotions layered underneath it, but didn't feel inclined to dissect them at the moment. Not with the numbers rising. Her stomach dropped.

"I've had better nightmares."

She even ignored Rhodey entering the room. "Hey," he spoke up. Steve immediately turned around. He was the leader. Steve needed to pay attention to all of them and keep track of them. Natasha was thankful for that but kept her eyes fixed on the display. _This is much worse than what I expected._

Rhodey went on. "So that thing just – stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing." Natasha looked back over her shoulder. The pager lost its signal. Not a good sign. She noted Steve's head snapping back around to look at her. Looking for a hint, for help.

They trusted each other and between the two, she was far more knowledgeable with technology. Natasha met his eyes. _I don't know what to do either. We're on the same page here…_

She was the first to move, taking the lead with Steve and Rhodey falling in step behind her. Natasha strode into the lab with purpose that was more show than anything else. "What've we got?"

Bruce startled slightly at her question, clearly lost in whatever analysis he was doing at the moment. He caught himself quickly, stepping up next to the others. His eyes shifted too much to mask his own nervousness. "Whatever signal it sent, it finally crapped out."

Steve frowned. "I thought we bypassed the battery?"

"Oh, we did," Rhodey chimed in. "It just – just stopped."

Natasha furrowed her brows. _There has to be some kind of hint at whatever happened. We just need to find it. We can't afford to lose this._Her eyes roamed over the entire construction. The pager itself looked just fine, the hold seemed to fit perfectly without any possibility for losing contact by sudden movement or anything like that.

"Reboot it," Steve instructed. "Send the signal again."

"We don't even know what this is," Bruce tried to argue. He looked insecure, glasses in hand and looking at them imploringly. He was trying to play it safe. Understandable, considering his situation.

However, it was misplaced at the moment. Natasha gritted her teeth. "Fury did," she heard how tight her own voice sounded. "Just do it, please." She forced herself to take a deep breath. _I can't allow for the emotions to take over now._

"And tell me the second you get a signal. I want to know who's on the other end of that thing." _I need to get back to my turf, make sure we have all the information we need about our current situation and on how to find Tony and Thanos._

Without waiting for an answer from either Bruce or Rhodey, Natasha spun around – and came face to face with a stranger.

A blonde woman in a strange space suit. A space suit with the symbol from their pager. Natasha tensed. _Who is she?_

The other woman had entered their compound without tripping off any of their security measures. And she looked too calmly worried to be anything less than powerful. The blonde didn't flinch in the face of four visibly ready-to-fight people staring at her.

Instead, the blonde only asked a simple question.

"Where is Fury?"


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER 9**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 9 Goddess

Hel watched over her new subjects. The tacticians and science department were making remarkable progress on their plans to move against Thanos. And as it turned out, Drax was quite adept at teaching the others new tricks in hand-to-hand combat. Loki on the other hand had more than one argument with his new students. Apparently Doctor Strange just assumed he had the upper hand between them because he mastered astral projection within just a few weeks. And fought Thanos.

"I am not going to tell you again," Loki narrowed his eyes at the other man, "do not assume you have the high ground."

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "If I recall correctly, I bested you once before. You ran from Thanos to save your own life. You tricked your brother more than once. How are we supposed to trust you?"

_Oh, Odin's beard, please don't. Don't challenge him. Dad is not the most reliable mentor, even if he likes his students..._Hel pinched the bridge of her nose. _Idiots with illusion of grandeur surround me._

Next to her, Bucky furrowed his brows as well. "That seems counterproductive."

"You don't say." Hel paused. She took a deep breath. No sense in losing her temper now. Not, if her father was short of losing it as well. No one wanted to see Loki in a foul mood. "Know what? You would really help me, if you checked what the Tacticians have come up with. Hope and Fury promised me a status update. Have a look at it. Maybe train for a bit with Drax, if I'm taking too long."

Bucky looked her up and down. Hel had a feeling, he saw someone else standing in her place right now. Probably someone with blond hair and dangerous, righteous fury burning inside of them.

Finally, he took a deep breath. "Okay. I'll see, if I can poke some holes in their plan of attack that Hill and Sam haven't pointed out." Bucky tipped his head at her in an almost salute, turned on his heel and left.

Hel turned back towards the magicians. Wanda, Mantis and Janet were training by themselves with Janet taking on the role of supervisor as well as giving constructive criticism on their techniques. The older woman seemed intent on keeping their attention away from Strange and Loki, who were by now staring each other down with energy crackling between their fingers.

Hel groaned. _Great. Just what I need... The others are getting along so well. But no, the alpha males have to clash. And they aren't even the most alpha males around!_She ran a hand through her hair, letting her magic tie it back in a simple French braid. _Well… Let's get this over with._

With an obviously fake smile hefted onto her lips, Hel strode towards the men. The closer she came, the more of their argument she could hear. It was by now spiralling into the realms of petty accusations and idle stabs.

"Hello, father," Hel said in a sing-song voice just loud enough to be heard above their argument. "How is the training going along?"

Loki and Strange turned to look at her. Their faces told her, they knew they were in trouble with the goddess hosting them. Surprisingly, Janet came to their rescue. "We are working on our technique," she called. "Wanda is making wonderful progress with her target practice. Just a couple days more and I am sure, she will be able to best you in a magic-based fight."

Hel's eyes glided over to the women. Wanda was blushing profusely at the praise. "I… I wouldn't bet on that," she said calmly. "It didn't go well the last time I unleashed my full power."

"That is why you are here and training," Hel nodded her head, "To gain control over your resources." She paused, taking the time to examine Wanda's energy signature without the prejudice she had held against her on their first meeting. _She is very powerful for a mortal. With the right training she might even be able to take it up with Thanos himself._

Aloud Hel merely added, "I'd be honoured, if you fought me again some time soon. I need the exercise."

Janet gave an approving smile. She knew the compliment was directed at Wanda as much as it was at her for training the woman. Loki after all did seem to have to focus all his attention on the over-confident magician.

"You could always fight me," Loki offered with a winning smile.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly. You seem to have your hands full with training Strange." Hel's voice dripped with honey. "I wouldn't want to interrupt your lessons."

"I can train by myself," Strange announced crossly.

"Of course you can, darling." Hel barely resisted the urge to pat his arm. True, Strange was quite powerful and prone to learn a vast number of tricks in a short amount of time. However, he still carried a certain air of arrogance from his years as one of the best surgeons with him. Strange tended to use magic for everything. As if he needed to prove to himself and others that he had it. It wasn't a tool; it was a symbol of power. He'd rather teleport than walk. _That needs to change. And I might just have the idea to do it._

Ignoring the discontent frown, Hel turned back around towards the women. "Say, have you ever trained with one another?"

Mantis stopped in her exercise to let a plant grow with her empathic manipulation. "Wanda, Janet and I have. Sometimes Loki gives us tips. Strange never joins, although it's so much fun." Her big eyes lit up at whatever memory played in her mind's eye.

Hel raised an eyebrow. "So, Strange has never participated? Did you try to intervene, father? You must be aware of what the idea of this training is." She started towards the centre of the chamber, letting her magic melt her clothes into a light tunic tied at her waist and soft pants ideal for jumping and twisting. "Maybe it's time, I do a check-up on our new recruits and their progress in mastering their abilities." The gleam in her eyes was menacing.

Janet moved slightly in front of the other two women. Understandable, considering how Hel had treated Wanda at their last standoff that first day they met. It still brought a light smile to Hel's lips. _Wanda could twist me into whatever form she desired, if she put her heart to it. Though I doubt, she would actually go through with it right now. And she isn't my target at the moment._

"How about we start with you, Doc?" Hel stretched her muscles as if preparing for a physical workout. "I have to assume, you are quite the enemy, if you refuse training with the others." With a sigh, she rolled her shoulders and neck. "I'd love to see that Earth magician thing in action."

Loki narrowed his eyes at her. Her father obviously sensed that something was up. He would be unable to pinpoint the exact reason why he thought that but he could still tell that Hel had plans of her own beyond testing their magic abilities. They both were tricksters at heart after all.

"Come on now," Hel said after Strange had not moved for a few moments, "Don't be shy. We're all friends here." The smile she threw him was slightly too wide to be considered friendly. Strange still didn't move a single muscle, only staring at her as if trying to figure out her ulterior motives. "Either you come here and show me what you learned, or I could snap you out of existence. Your choice."

Strange moved. Chin held high, cape billowing out behind him, he strode up to meet Hel. "So," he said with a forced bored tone, "What now?"

From the corner of her eye, Hel noticed the barrier shimmering into place around them. Loki seemed to at least want to protect his other pupils against any possible harm Hel and Strange might cause. A crooked smile curled her lips. "Now, you show me how much you learned about fighting with your powers." Hel shifted her feet apart, balancing her weight on the balls on her feet. With a slow nod for Strange to do the same, she lifted her hands slightly.

Strange observed her change in stance but did nothing to copy her. "I don't see, why I should do this. I have nothing to prove to you."

"No?" Hel tilted her head to the side. In quick succession, her eyes scanned over the rest of her magic trainees. Janet and Loki watched them with the focus of masters observing their craft and training in practice. Mantis stared with bright and unblinking eyes, unwilling to miss a single moment. Wanda seemed wary of what was going on. _She's still afraid of her powers. Although she gained control over more and more aspects of them from what I heard the others talk about. Janet seems to take really well to her. Even Dad complimented her concentration during practice._

A fiery spark caught Hel's eye seconds before a wall of a portal raced towards her. With a smile, she threw herself through it. Cold wind pressed against her cheeks and stung in her eyes. _Not very creative._With a wave of her fingers, she warped the portal, redirected it back towards her original location.

She grinned broadly at Strange's stunned expression. "Interesting move. But two can play that game." Without waiting for an answer, Hel pushed off the ground and leapt towards Strange.

He barely had time to bring up his shield to block her knives. His cloak on the other hand did react fast. It wrapped around Hel's hands as she clanged against the shield. "Not bad," Hel praised with a short nod. The cloak let her go and Hel twisted out of their reach. "But not good enough."

A portal opened behind Strange's shoulder. A single knife sailed through the air.

Beyond the barrier, Hel caught her father's eye. His lips were curled in a subtle smirk. _Either Dad's really confident in my victory or knows, Strange has something up his sleeve to thwart my attempts._

The subtle shift in energy was all the warning Hel got, before Strange wrapped an energy whip around her ankle and tugged. She tumbled to the ground with an undignified sound. He ducked, and her knife sailed right over his head._So Strange did have something up his sleeve._

"Not bad," Strange looked down at her without any emotion, "But not good enough."

Hel snorted. _Yeah right. If you think, I'm done then you don't know me at all._

Strange visibly relaxed his muscles, his energy whip fell away. With Hel on the ground he seemed to assume, the battle was over. Which might be true, if he had fought with one of the other pupils in his magic group. But Hel was a goddess. She had a temper and currently with the knowledge of him resisting her orders, Hel was not in a very good mood. _Top it off with the overall lack of contact I could form with whoever Asgardians are still up and about and lack of finding Hela… This might be just what I need._

"You don't honestly think you could beat me that easily, hm?" Hel leaned back on her elbows, grinning. And just like the cat in the Midgardian children's book, she disappeared.

Hel loved seeing the sudden shock in his eyes. _Not every day you see someone dissolving into air, huh? Well, welcome to the fun part of this._She calmly stood. _Let's teach you a little something about fighting._Hel rolled her shoulders, stretched her back. _It has been some time, since I could fight with someone who didn't want to kill me. _Her eyes strayed beyond the barrier.

Mantis leaned against it with splayed hands, eyes wide. She said something under her breath, too faint to hear inside the barrier. Janet seemed to look directly at Hel, but didn't react otherwise, her hand resting on Mantis' shoulder in soft reassurance. Loki and Wanda on the other hand were quietly discussing something. _I bet, Dad is explaining the methods behind my tricks. Her powers are similar enough to ours for it to need the same mechanics. This fight might just help both Strange and Wanda to gain a better understanding of their powers._

"Where are you?" Strange stared around, searching for an indication. His eyes slid over her unseeingly. "Are you giving up already?" The cloak loosened from his shoulders and floated in the space around his back. It might just be searching for Hel as well. _And that cloak is a lot better at detecting energies…_

Hel touched her hands to her throat. Mumbling a spell, she began to speak. "If you think, I'm giving up this easily, then you don't know me." She watched in glee, as Strange spun around. With her voice reverberating all around the room he had no chance of locating her. The cloak returned to his shoulders.

"Let's make it a bit more interesting."

To Strange's credit, he didn't jump away as the rocks and bushes popped up throughout the training area. "What is this supposed to mean?"

"Magic, like anything else, is a weapon. You need to know how and when to use your weapon." Hel crouched behind one of the boulders and dismantled all of her illusions. She looked down at her blue skin. "Try to defeat me without your magic. Only deliver the final blow with it."

"Why would I do that?"

"To prove to me, that you are powerful even without your magic. All the others are making progress not only in utilising their powers but also hand to hand combat and weapon training." Hel pulled her braid under the hem of her tunic. "You on the other hand defy my orders at every turn. I am your host." Hel peered over the stone towards Strange. "I am the goddess of death." He stood stock still in the place she left him. "I saved you from the soul stone." Strange didn't move to protect himself, neither did the cloak. "I can just as easily send you back there." Hel ducked back behind the stone, dissolving her last spell. _Let the game begin._

In the back of her mind, she knew that seeing her in her true form for the first time might be enough to startle the magician into shock. _Well, he has to get used to it. Thanos is going to attack with aliens and they surely are no sight for sore eyes._

After another glance out from her hideout, Hel rolled behind a bush close by, but closer to Strange. By now he was at least looking around since Hel's voice didn't make another announcement and the man seemed to have at least some kind of self-preservation. _Good for him._

Hel slid over the ground, meticulously taking care of not touching anything that might give her location away. And despite her very obvious skin colour among the grey boulders and green bushes, Strange appeared to be completely oblivious to it. He looked in her direction several times but never acknowledged her presence. _There's something not right with this. He has to see me. I'm not exactly subtle. Maybe he uses his magic against my instructions._

Crouched behind another boulder off to the right of Strange, her back towards the barrier, Hel picked up a smaller stone. Her eyes scanned the hiding spots she had arranged. Strange was still not taking cover. Hel rolled her eyes. _Kill-joy. This would be so much more fun, if Dad played with me. We would actually throw knives at each other right now. Or maybe just stalk one another like predators. But no, Mister Magician Supreme has no need for such trifle._

Hel threw the stone in a slight arch in the opposite direction of her hiding spot. Sure enough, Strange turned along with it. He even moved towards the noise. She slapped her hand against her forehead. _Does he have any kind of self-preservation? I could throw knives right into his back right now and he would be none the wiser. Well, if he doesn't want to play, then I won' play._

With a single knife pulled from one of her pocket dimensions, Hel bounded over the boulder. She didn't utter a sound, her footfall silent from training. Death did move quiet as a shadow.

Strange spun around, blocking the knife with an energy staff of his own.

"Oh, so you did know where I was?"

"Sometimes not reacting is the best reaction."

"Where did you read that? Some fortune cookie?"

"I think you said that once."

Hel laughed. She almost forgot she had dropped all her illusions. Strange seemed not all that perturbed by it. But even so, she had something to prove. Strange might have used his magic to locate her and might be capable enough to use it effectively in a fight, but there was much more he needed to learn.

With a slight smile, Hel twisted out of their lock hold. "I told you to not use magic and here we are." She danced a few steps back. "You just want to prove your worth with magic. It's the only thing you can do, isn't it?" Hel tilted her head ever so slightly. "Fine then. Show me."

The cloak floated away from Strange, beckoning Hel with its ends, as if challenging her to fight. Hel grinned. "Wow. Need your magic cloak to help you?"

Strange formed his shield while pulling up the energy whip with his free hand. "I thought you said I was not a team player?" A slight glint came to his eyes that had Hel's hackles rising. "Well, then you should have nothing to worry about."

Hel didn't bother to answer the obvious dare. _He and the Cloak of Levitation are a worthy enemy from what I can tell. How that damned cloth latched on to him is a mystery in and of itself… I cannot let that distract me. This is about teaching Strange a lesson._

Slowly, Hel lowered herself into a crouch, ready to launch herself into any direction at a minimal notice from either Strange or Cloak. If her theory was correct, the cloak would attack her first and Strange would deliver the finishing blow. It might damn her entire reason for beginning this fight in the first place.

And truly, the cloak shot forward too fast for Hel to react in any way. The air rushed around her face – a cry cut through the air. Something crashed through the magical bushes and directly into the cloak. With a whirl of growls and rustling fabric and tentacles, the cloak disappeared.

Hel blinked. _Millie?_She slowly got to her feet. True enough. Her loyal cat sat on the ground, licking her paws in faked innocence. Over the past years, Hel had noticed the changes in Millie. First, growing from the size of a regular housecat to a half-year-old lynx. Then, Millie had begun changing her fur colour as well. By now she was indistinguishable from a Eurasian Lynx cub. Except for one thing.

"So you developed into a Flerken, hm?" Hel shook her head lightly. Millie merely blinked lazily at her.

"A what?" Strange stared at the cat in surprise. "She ate my cloak."

Hel looked at him thoughtfully. His posture was relaxed, his magic nowhere in sight. "We're not done here," she announced. "Get in position."

And again, Strange relaxed his posture before moving into a new sequence. Hel saw the opportunity and acted. With a nimbleness rivalling a cat, she spun around him and kicked Strange in the back of his knees.

With a satisfying gasp, Strange collapsed.

"You should really learn how to use your magic to protect you even when you're distracted," Hel told him sternly. "It might be your salvation. Loki could surely give you some pointers on that. Or Janet. She is really good with the healing magic." Hel walked around him to look Strange directly in the eye. "And don't forget to train your hand to hand combat. You never know when you might need it."

Strange stared up at her. He jumped to his feet, aiming a hit for Hel's head, but Hel was faster. With a light chuckle, she twisted his arm behind his back, forcing him to his knees. She leaned in closely. "I think, you still have to learn," she whispered. "How about you let Loki and the others help you. Their magic might be different from yours, but you pick up the one or other thing after a couple thousand years. Can you do that?"

Strange remained stubbornly silent.

Hel pulled him back, until she knew the others could see his face. "Very well then. I guess this is goodbye. I have no use for subjects with god complexes." Her eyes flickered up. All, but her father, stared at her in shock. Loki on the other hand looked thoughtful. Doubtlessly already mapping out his next steps in either the training or using the demonstration of power to his own advantage.

"No," Strange croaked. "I'll work on mastering my powers. I'll accept their guidance and training."

Hel calmly backed up. "Good decision."

Millie came towards them, purring loudly. Hel looked at the Flerken. "And now, Millie, spit out the Cloak of Levitation."

The cat tilted its head with a "mroww?".

"You heard me just fine. I don't know, where you came from and frankly, I don't care," Hel stared at Millie sternly, "You were supposed to go to the kids. Not check in with me."

Another cat noise.

"Yes, I know you like him. But he isn't with me right now. We all have our duties to fulfil. Now, spit out the cloak."

For a moment, it seemed Millie would refuse. Then, the cat convulsed, retching. In an unnatural display of tentacles inside a cat's skull, seemingly splitting it in half, Millie brought out the Cloak of Levitation. Hel grasped its edge. With a flick of her hand, the magical clothing item was back in pristine shape, as if it had never been swallowed by a Flerken in the first place.

"Here you go." Hel handed the cloak over to Strange, who looked on in surprise, intrigue and disgust. "Take good care of it, but don't always rely on it."

She didn't wait for another word from Strange. With Millie hot on her heels, Hel spun on and stalked towards the barrier. With a flick of her wrist, she forced the barrier down and let the hiding spots disappear. _There's no need for that anymore._

"That was impressive," Janet said with a small nod. Her eyes first strayed to Millie, then roamed over Hel's body, taking in her sunset eyes and blue skin. "It suits you. You should show this side of you more often."

Hel offered her a rueful smile. "You're the first to think, this looks better than the other form." With a flicker, her illusion slid back in place. Hel looked down at her pale skin and took another deep breath to change her clothes into a formal tunic with her hair piled in small ringlets atop her head. "Still, thanks. Keep up the hard work."

"I'll get back to you for our little training. And I promise, I'll fight fair, okay?"

Wanda's eyes still roamed over her face, as if trying to find a trace of either the blue-skinned woman she had seen before or to bring this softer version in synch with the warrior she met in her first encounter.

Mantis was already making cooing sounds at Millie. The Flerken was purring contently at the attention. She bumped her nose against Mantis' hand, which made her giggle.

"I'm looking forward to it," Wanda finally replied. Her smile was genuine. "I'd be honoured to learn from you."

"I explained some of the mechanics to her while you sparred with Strange," Loki chimed in with an insufferable grin. "I would say, we have a good chance of getting dear Wanda to a magnificent power to be reckoned with."

Hel nodded her understanding, gave Mantis a wave and left the training area of the magicians with Millie by her side. _Well, at least that dissolved some of the tension. _She let her back crack. _With Strange more willing to cooperate, it might be time to focus back on the other problems. Ugh, at least the magicians are sorted out and probably soon may be ready to fight._

* * *

A couple hours later, Hel stood at the edge of a windy cliff. _Mh, the wind really helps with putting things into perspective. I wish I could come to Midgard more often. There are so many beautiful spots I have never set foot in before._

With the calm of a cat, Hel stretched her body out as she settled onto a stone near the edge of the cliffs. In the distance she could just make out the stranded ship and beginnings of a village. Houses in construction, a harbour dotted with small fisher boats. It might almost be idyllic if it weren't for the fact that Hel knew the inhabitants of this small settlement just had survived several traumas. _Well, it can't always be perfect._

Grass rustled behind her. Rustled, not in the wind but with the steps of an approaching person. Hel straightened her posture slightly. Not enough to seem threatening but enough to give her a regal aura. "I'm glad you could make it."

The person snorted. "Yeah, right. What do you want?"

Hel turned around. Amidst the lovely scenery stood none other than Val. Her dusty, damaged armour looking out of place compared to Hel's tunic and boots.

"Getting right down to business? Okay, fine by me." Hel stood from her rock. "I know what happened with Thanos. How much do you know about what happened with Hela?"

Val shifted her weight to one foot. Hel almost scoffed when she also crossed her arms across her chest. "I know that she isn't dead. A goddess of death, no matter how fake, can't be killed by fire. Not even the fire that destroys Asgard."

"Very good," Hel nodded her head. "I'm glad, we're on the same page. I have tried to locate her before Thanos fulfilled his dumb plan. Unfortunately, even with my knowledge and eyes spread all over the universe with all the death happening, I still couldn't find her."

"Bummer."

Hel glared. "Yes. Very much. Considering she killed your lover and friends as well as half of Asgard, it might be even more of a tragedy. Or maybe I'm just bitter, because she almost killed me. And stole some of my power. And might be working with Thanos for all we know and considering I cannot seem to locate her."

With a huff, Val relaxed her posture. She came forward, sitting down on the stone Hel previously occupied. "Okay, you got my attention, Goddess. What's your plan?"

Hel settled next to Val. _Well, that was the easy part. Getting her to listen is one thing. Now I have to get her to get to cooperate._

"Just to get it out of the way, I have the dusted Avengers. They are down in Helheim and training and planning to overthrow Thanos and reclaim their places in the real world." Hel paused to allow Val to catch her drift.

The warrior nodded once. "You need a connection in this world to line up the plans of both Avenger teams. And who better than a Valkyrie to do the job? The two of us are the link between the living and the dead." Val rubbed her hands along her thighs. "It makes sense. We both need allies when the inevitable comes. Death and Life need to work together to overcome Thanos and Hela."

"I'm glad you understand."

"Don't get me wrong. I hate the idea."

"Yes of course. I am not a big fan either." Hel ran a hand over her hair. "But it is the only way I see for this to work out in some way. If we keep each other updated on the on-goings in each world, we might just be able to line them up appropriately to lead the mortals to success."

Both women turned to stare out at the sea towards the newly forming settlement. Despite the distance, they could see small figures running around. They worked tirelessly to assemble houses, built boats to bring in food and some seemed to even light fires to cook whatever they caught. The wind swirled around them, blocking out any other sound.

Val was the first to break the silence. "I hope it's worth it." She rose from the rock. "They need my help to rebuild Asgard."

"I wish you luck," Hel replied.

With a nod, Val disappeared back towards the village along the cliff. Hel stayed on the rock overseeing the sea and village. _It might just work out. It just might._


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 10**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 10 Captain

"Where is Fury?" the woman repeated.

Natasha shifted her weight to her toes. _If the signal called her and Nick started the signal as we assume…_Her eyes slipped over to Steve. He was already looking over at her, his arms held loosely at his sides. Ready to follow her call. A calming thought to be considered second in command. Natasha gave a small shrug. As of now she could not read the blonde sufficiently. Her posture suggested some kind of military training. She knew Fury. Apparently the pager had called her?

"Who are you?" Steve asked calmly.

The woman readjusted her stance. Instead of leaning forward, ready to attack, she settled slightly farther on her heels. Her hands clenched into fists, rising then falling back to her sides. "My name is Carol Danvers. I know Fury from a run-in we had in the nineties. Modified his pager so he could call me in emergencies. Occasionally checked in on him and my cat Goose."

The picture of a contently purring red cat appeared in Natasha's head. _So that's her cat then. The one that scratched his eye out. The one I met just before Nick took me in._

Natasha blinked quickly. "Fury is," she began, "Fury disappeared. We faced a primordial being named Thanos."

"Thanos? Thanos did this?" Carol blinked in surprise, then immediately furrowed her brows. "We need to find him."

"You don't say?" Rhodey crossed his arms across his chest. He looked between Natasha and Carol. "Why didn't we think of this?"

A small smile tugged at Natasha's lips. _Nice to know, they're all on my side. But we need to be careful and find out what exactly Carol is up to. Nick trusted her, still…_

"We're already searching for him. Unfortunately, we haven't come very far yet. Essentially we're missing one of our team mates who is very good at this kind of thing." Bruce managed to look Carol square in the eyes, until she tilted her head ever so slightly. He rubbed at the back of his neck. Nervousness was rolling off of him in waves now. If it weren't for the fact that the big guy hadn't come out ever since Bruce had returned, Natasha might have worried. Even still, she kept him in her peripheral vision just in case.

"Who is it you're missing?"

"Tony Stark," Steve replied evenly. "He disappeared in a space ship with some of Thanos' followers."

Carol frowned. "Stark? Aren't the Starks in weapon export? What does he have to do with protecting Earth? Shouldn't he be selling weapons to avoid an encore of a situation like this?"

"You haven't been to Earth in a long time it seems." Steve frowned, disapproving of their friend's impression. "Things have changed. Trust me."

Natasha could almost hear Tony snort and mumble something about Steve being the expert on changing times. Could almost see Sam and Bucky quickly glancing at their friend to check if he was okay. She forced the images to fade. Carol needed to understand the situation and quickly. The quicker Tony was back, the quicker they could work on repairing the red in their ledger. Defeat Thanos and bring back those they had lost. _Clint. I'll bring you hope._

Carol watched them all attentively. "I understand. Now, I introduced myself, but who are you?"

As if by prior arrangement, the men turned to look at Natasha. Each of them waiting for her assessment of the situation. It might have been sweet, hadn't they all looked equally exhausted and worried.

With a crooked smile, Natasha extended her hand to Carol. "Since the boys want me to go first: My name is Natasha Romanov."

"Black Widow," Carol shook the offered hand with a nod. "Last I saw him, Fury told me of the new friend Goose made. He was a bit worried when he found you alone with her." The grin she threw Natasha was unreadable. And the context of Goose and her meeting was even less logical. Natasha made a mental note not only to get the cat from Nick's apartment but also to ask Carol about Goose and what made her so special.

"Didn't you have a companion? Clint or something?"

"He is MIA, currently." Natasha lifted her chin defiantly. Apparently, Carol was quick to catch on, as she merely nodded and didn't inquire further. Instead, she turned towards Steve.

"You seem oddly familiar."

Steve blushed and averted his eyes. The creases on his forehead deepened. The thought of this woman just appearing, apparently travelling through space and still – it was more than a little strange. Given, Steve didn't feel too comfortable in his skin most of the time.

"I'm Steve Rogers."

Carol's posture immediately straightened. "The Steve Rogers? The Captain America Steve Rogers?" At Steve's timid nod her face lit up. "Oh, this is so great. You know, I met Peggy Carter once. She was really nice and told me so many stories about you. I have to admit, I have a feeling we might have a few things in common, Captain."

Mentioning Peggy's name alone got their attention. As one of the founders of SHIELD and overall badass agent, most of SHIELD had had a little crush on her at some point – or at least admired her dedication to making the world a better place.

Steve blinked at Carol for a few heartbeats. His face was carefully guarded, though Natasha could see the hurt creeping back in. Carol couldn't possibly know Peggy had died and just now, Steve had lost Bucky and Sam and Wanda and so many others.

"Bruce Banner," Bruce stepped up and thrust his hand in her direction. A distraction so Steve could regain his composure without the new attention on him. Natasha shifted just as subtly so brush her hand against Steve's.

She allowed the conversation to fade into the background. Instead, Natasha focused on the new puzzle pieces they had gained. _Hayden found the pager, which means Nick and Maria are gone for now. Clint disappeared into the underground, possibly fuelled by vengeance. The signal called a warrior from outer space to us, whom we didn't know about before. Thor is guiding his people into settling down on Earth. Rocket is somewhere in the compound and Tony is lost in space._Her eyes strayed over to Carol, who was engaging Rhodey in a discussion about the military and the Air Force. Bruce had disappeared back into the depths of the lab to readjust the parameters to search for Tony. _Well, we have a new variable to accomplish that._

"What do you think?" Steve murmured. He watched attentively as Carol laughed at Rhodey's wide eyes upon her retelling of some story of a flight with her best friend.

They both knew his question was much more than he let on. Natasha thoughtfully pursed her lips. "Fury trusted her. Otherwise he wouldn't have the pager. She is able to travel space." Her eyes flickered up to Steve. His eyes were still on Carol, but he gave a slight nod of understanding. "We need every help we can get. Pepper needs help. I think the council is going to call us any minute, finding Tony and Clint…"

Steve nodded once more. Natasha knew the look in his eyes. He was coming to a conclusion. Based on her observations, his judgment of the situation and considering what they knew about Carol. With resolve hardening his eyes, Captain America took over and Natasha fell back into her role as second in command.

"Carol, I'm sorry to interrupt," he strode towards them, "But since you're here, we need to discuss some strategy with you." Captain America tilted his head to the side slightly, indicating the table they had huddled around just a few minutes earlier.

In an instant, the atmosphere around the room changed. Both, Rhodey and Carol straightened as if in front of a superior. Without saying a single word, the three of them assembled around the table. Steve pulled up maps and scales to explain their situation to Carol.

"Would you mind looking after Hayden and Bruce?" Steve asked Natasha without looking up. Her shoulders tensed. _Is he seriously sending me away? _She clenched her teeth until she actually looked at Steve. His shoulders were just as tense, his spine ramrod straight. The crease between his brows indicated a concentration he usually displayed in a fight. _He is preparing to relay everything. Our entire fight against Thanos. For that he doesn't need my insight just now. We talked it through entirely in Wakanda and enough times since. Now he needs to shove his feelings back down and get Carol on our side._

With a nod, Natasha relaxed her stance. She threw Carol a smile. "See you later. Maybe you'd like something for lunch?"

Carol looked between her and Steve quickly. She obviously noticed the moment of tension, but chose not to comment on it. Instead she thought for a moment. Then, "Do you have any pizza?"

"I can get us some." Natasha grinned. She looked back at Steve with an appraising look. "Hayden and I will borrow your motorbike." It was a small dig against him excluding her from this strategy meeting with their possible new ally.

Without even waiting for a response, she spun on her heel and walked towards the lab. Steve would not complain as long as she brought his bike back in one piece. Plus, she needed a way to get into the city for the pizza.

Bruce stood bent over the table, still examining the pager. "I think, if I find out how this pager sent a signal strong enough to be picked up in space then maybe we could replicate it with a frequency to match with Tony's tech." He glanced up at Natasha. "What do you think?"

"It might work. But we need to find out how the signal got transported. Maybe Carol can tell you more about that. You can ask her after Steve briefed her on the situation," she suggested. Still, Natasha stepped closer to peer at the pager. Bruce had carefully opened the case, exposing the wiring.

Natasha tilted her head. There was definitely something different about the wiring than was to be expected. "I think she exchanged the radio receiver. Maybe even the motor." She traced the slightly larger parts. Something else caught her attention. A small detail, barely visible among the other plates and wires. "What's this?"

Bruce ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, that is what I tried to figure out for the past minutes. I think it might be the reason for the long battery life and reach of signal. But, you know, engineering is not really my strong suit."

"Engineering, eh?" Rocket jumped onto the table from out of nowhere. Bruce startled and stumbled a few steps backwards. "Don't pee your pants," Rocket said without even looking up.

Natasha raised an eyebrow. _Wherever did he come from? Did he crawl through the vents?_

"Oh, you might want to check in on the kid. He's wandering around looking for you." Rocket glanced up at Natasha shortly. Then, he focused back on the pager. With a few mumbled comments about the built of the pager, he set to work on it. "Just give me a couple hours. I might be able to find out how this works and how we can use it."

Bruce and Natasha exchanged a look. Shrugging, Bruce motioned for her to leave and find Hayden. "I can handle him. Besides, I need to brief Steve and the rest on the whole situation and ask Carol about what she knows. And set up some plan to find Thanos."

"Promise to call me, if you find anything," Natasha told him sternly.

Bruce nodded solemnly. Even Rocket looked up shortly to snort at her. "What else did you expect, redhead? That I keep it to myself?"

"Better safe than sorry," Natasha replied. With a small smile at Bruce she left the room.

* * *

It was easier than she expected. Hayden leaned against the counter top in the kitchen, an apple in his hand. "Good morning." His grin widened, becoming almost cheeky.

Natasha returned the grin with a smile. "Good morning." She leaned against the counter and grabbed another apple from the bowl. "How are you feeling?"

"Good, thanks. I really love the room. It's so cool and to think the Avengers live here…" He looked around as if the others might enter the room at any moment. Then, as if remembering something, his eyes trailed back to the floor before his feet. His shoulders hunched forward, as if protecting him from something. His hands, still holding on to the apple, rose higher towards his chest.

Natasha took a bite from her apple. She suspected she knew why he was looking like that. After all, their arrangement had been for one night only. _And he doesn't have anyone else to turn to._Natasha considered their options for a moment. After the Snap it was hard to navigate the city. Dangerous even. Especially for younger people like Hayden. _The calls from politicians will begin to trickle in soon. No doubt the work we'll face will double at least. I suppose Rhodey and Steve will man that front. We could need someone to help us coordinate. But I need to ask the others first._

With a smile she threw the rest of the apple into the bin and Hayden followed her suit. "Would you like to come and pick up some pizza?" Natasha looked back at Hayden. "The others are busy with some theoretical stuff and need a little pick me up to stop working." At Hayden's incredulous look, Natasha almost laughed. "You didn't think, we'd just kick you out, did you?"

"W-Well…" Hayden fidgeted in place.

"Even without Captain America in this very house I wouldn't kick you out like that. Natasha shifted to look at him fully, hands loosely at her sides. Even though the teenager hadn't shown any sign of being frightened by her, she still wanted to seem as unthreatening as possible. "You can go of course, if you want do. Any time. I'll drop you off wherever you want and go get the pizza alone."

Hayden almost stumbled over his words as he hurried to assure Natasha that he would love to eat with them and that pizza sounded great. She grinned at him, glad he accepted her offer. Without another word, they started towards the garage.

"Hey!" Carol ran up behind them. "I want to get Goose and my motorbike from Fury's. Mind, if I tag along? We can get more pizza with two drivers." Her eyes sparkled with mischief, a grin on her lips.

"Did they already fill you in on everything?" Natasha frowned. _If they only needed a couple minutes, they haven't told her everything. Did they see something to warrant their distrust of her?_

Carol shrugged lightly. "No, not really. I got the gist of it. That's enough for me for now. We can continue to talk strategy after we have some food. You guys look like you can use it. No offence."

_So, no, they didn't stop because she wasn't trustworthy. They just need a break in general. _Natasha looked back at Hayden. He seemed utterly confused at the appearance of the new person in front of him. He definitely couldn't place Carol in the assortment of Avengers he had no doubt researched. "Sure, but we're taking Steve's bike, so you'll have to get your own ride." Natasha gestured to Hayden. "This is Hayden by the way. He found the pager."

In an instant, Carol's attention snapped to the teenager the same moment he stepped slightly behind Natasha's shoulder. Carol gave him a crooked smile. "Thank you, Hayden. It would have been much harder to find information on Fury, had I only found my pager. I'm Carol by the way."

Hayden wobbled his head in quick acknowledgement. "You're welcome."

"Now. That pizza." Carol's eyes gleamed.

_She's up to something. That look promises mischief. But what is she up to?_Natasha scanned Carol for any hidden weapons. There were none she could spot. "I don't think there is room enough for three." She repeated the words carefully, shifting a little more in front of Hayden, just in case.

Carol's grin only seemed to widen. Natasha felt compelled to compare her to Clint when he was starting one of his infamous prank wars. Or Sam when he thought of one particularly good one-liner. The thought sent a pang through her. _They'd like her. She has this aura of recklessness… Just like Steve. It would drive Bucky crazy._

What came next, not even Natasha had expected.

With that impish grin still in place, Carol burst into flame. Energy exploded from her fists, quickly encompassing her whole body in golden light. "Don't worry," Carol lifted her chin, "I'll wait for you at the Avenger's Tower." And without another word, she turned on her heel and took off into the sky. _Wanda…_But no, Carol was quicker than Wanda, the energy coming from within her in a burst not in the crawl of magic that flowed like a river.

Head still reeling with the image and an array of new questions and thoughts she had to sort through; Natasha led Hayden towards Steve's bike. On autopilot, she started the Liberator and sped off towards the city. Weaving through the miraculously cleared streets, Natasha had half a mind to feel proud of the New York citizens for their diligence in reclaiming their city.

* * *

"Okay, so what do you want?" Natasha asked Hayden and Carol.

The cashier across from them was already staring with eyes as big as saucers. But who could blame them. It wasn't every day that Black Widow came into your pizzeria with a teenager and blonde woman with a cat curled around her shoulders. Hayden looked thoughtfully at the card above the register while Natasha rattled off the order for her friends she had memorised a long time ago.

"Three big Salamis, one big BBQ, two small with the oysters and crabs, one medium half Margarita half mushroom", she paused. _We got Steve, Rhodey, Rocket and Bruce. Tony would love the Hawaiian pizza… _"And a small Hawaiian, please."

Behind in the open kitchen, Natasha saw the cooks run around making the pizza with haste, as if trying to get them done faster than ever before. She almost felt bad for them. _Losing parts of their lives as well as several of their friends and family cannot be easy. And still having to go to work. This is…_

"What is a cheese crust? Does it taste good?" Carol asked.

"Oh yeah," Hayden almost jumped up and down. "It's like, the cheese is in the really crunchy crust and just like – cheese. Cheese everywhere!"

Carol laughed. "Okay. Then I'll take a big Quattro Formaggio with cheese crust." Goose gave a questioning purr that Carol met with a scratch to her head. "You wouldn't happen to have any leftover bacon?"

One of the people in the kitchen hurried forward with a plate of bacon. It instantly caught Goose's attention. She hopped down from Carol's shoulder directly onto the counter and devoured the offered food with feline grace.

"Do you want any pizza?" Natasha asked while reaching out to snatch one of the bacon slices from under Goose's nose. The cat swiped vaguely in her direction before focussing back on her bacon.

"Uh, a medium ham with cheese crust, please." Hayden gave a nervous smile, his eyes shifting between Goose on the counter and Natasha.

"Will that be all?" asked the cashier with a customer-service-smile barely covering the lingering mixture of awe and fear in the face of the order and Black Widow.

Natasha returned the look with a winning smile. "Yes." She handed over her credit card, looped in with Tony's financial accounts.

"Oh, no, no," the cashier stared at the card with sheer panic. "I couldn't possibly…"

"You can and you will," Natasha replied steadily. And without missing a beat, she pulled out her wallet and threw an additional tip on the counter. "For Goose and the excellent service."

Goose gave another happy meow, having cleared the entire plate of bacon. Purring, she pushed her head into Natasha's hands, who picked her up and handed her back to Carol. She still looked slightly surprised at the ease between Goose and Natasha, but didn't comment on it.

Hayden held out his hand for the cat to sniff before scratching her behind the ears just when the towering mass of pizza cartons appeared.

* * *

The weight of the cartons was well worth it. As soon as the smell of pizza wafted through the rooms, the others came wandering into the kitchen. Bruce's hair stood on end, but his eyes shone as he quietly greeted them before going back to listening to Rocket's never-ending tirade about possibilities to modify the pager and its signals. Rhodey strode in next, going straight for the plates and setting the table. Natasha couldn't help a small smile. _We slowly fall into our roles and duties around each other._

Goose strode through the kitchen, as if she owned the place, sniffing around for food to devour or pets to snatch. Hayden and Carol engaged Rhodey in a discussion about their interests and stories of their lives. Goose quickly took up residence close to them, curling around their feet in hopes of scraps.

Steve came in last. His whole face lit up with one of his rare smiles. His eyes swept over the assembled people just mingling, eating pizza. Natasha tried to see it from his perspective. A bunch of people, that barely knew each other, happily chatting away in the kitchen with food between them. _Almost like a family. _She grabbed two plates and walked over to Steve.

"Thanks," he said. Then, he went back to watching the others, a familiar melancholy welling up in his eyes.

"We'll get them back," Natasha said lightly. "Maybe not today or tomorrow. But eventually."

"And with Carol's help, additionally to Thor, we might actually stand a chance at finding Tony even quicker. So we can concentrate our attention on finding Clint and aiding anyone who asks for it," Steve added with a nod. They both turned back towards the others in the kitchen.

Goose had hopped onto the kitchen counter and purred happily with all the scratches she got, especially from Hayden. Carol and Rocket were getting to know each other by swapping space stories. Bruce and Rhodey stared at them both in fascinated disbelief. Natasha could almost see the cogs in their heads turning, trying to figure out the mechanics of everything.

_They are not our original modern family. Far from it. But we might develop into a new familial unit. And I will do anything to get our missing members back._


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 11**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 11 Crystal

The wind whipped around, howling in Hel's ears. "And you're sure, this is the place?" She glared at the bare landscape. It looked nothing like any place a goddess might seek refuge in. Not even a goddess of death.

"Are you saying you don't trust my sources?" Val raised a critical eyebrow.

"No. I'm saying this hellscape looks very much uninhabited."

The women stared each other down, neither willing to back down for even a second.

Eventually, Hel just turned her back on Val and stalked forward. _If she thinks, Hela is here somewhere then I need to make sure I don't overlook anything._The wind tugged on her clothes. It was almost freezing. _Great place to hide for sure. Really feels like home._

Hel heaved a sigh that disappeared into the wind. With the next exhale, she sent her magic into the air, searching for anything living among the bent-over, dead trees. Thin branches reached towards the sky like fingers scrabbling to hold on to something. Not to drown. "Let's hope, your sources were right about this. I'm tired of searching for Hela and coming up empty handed."

"It's not like I particularly enjoy your company either," Val replied calmly. "Besides, New Asgard needs me. Thor is busy with helping the Avengers track down Thanos. One of his teammates is missing, another one turned up out of nowhere. Apparently, she's travelled space and was basically imprisoned by the Kree for years."

Hel furrowed her brows. "That sounds oddly familiar. I might have met her sometime in the past. But it's good to hear that they are working so hard towards our goal. My sorcerers are getting better as well. Father might have a little too much fun with utilising his tricks against them, but Janet is balancing him out somehow."

She took another breath and sent her magic into the ground beneath her feet. "Tactics are still working on gathering the information we need and to take stock of the forces we have available to us, but we're slowly getting the full picture and I have to say," a cat-like grin spread across her face, "I might feel tempted to keep most of them after their job is done."

From the corner of her eye, Hel threw a look at the Valkyrie. Although Val had not done her job in centuries, her hand rested lightly on her sword. "You can certainly try." She turned with a small smile. "You'll see how it goes."

The subtle threat of a fight over people, Val had not even met, just on the premise of her former duty. Hel laughed. "I will keep it in mind."

For the next few minutes, neither of the women said a word. On occasion, Hel threw her magic out into the landscape and ground in search for any trace of Hela. Val at her side meanwhile constantly scanned the horizon for any sign of life.

The wind picked up, whipping their hair around their heads. _If this keeps up, we won't find Hela here either. The landscape looks accommodating enough for a goddess or sorceress to disappear into. Still…_Hel's thought wandered back to the last time she had seen Hela. The fire had seemed to consume her very being. _Surtur sure is a powerful being. But no Goddess of Death could be killed that easily. Hela has to be somewhere._

A soft ripple stopped Hel dead in her tracks. Her magic was calling back to her from a place just below the surface of the planet. Southwards. Val turned towards Hel with a questioningly raised eyebrow but didn't say anything else. Although they hadn't seen each other in centuries, even the Valkyrie knew not to challenge Hel's instincts.

Jerking her head in the direction her magic was calling from, Hel lead Val to a small cave opening. They exchanged a look and slunk to the side of it to make a quick plan how to proceed.

"Do you think she's still in there?" Val whispered close to Hel's ear.

She tilted her head in response. A tingle raced down her back, seeming to originate from her scar. "I can't tell. There are traces of her magic lingering in the ground, but she might have already left."

With a nod, Val signalled Hel how they should go on. And for once, Hel followed the plan without complaint. While Val scouted the surrounding of the cave, Hel slid into the opening, pressed close to the wall with her magic curling around her just in case. _We don't need a repeat from last time._Her hand wandered up to touch the scar on her cheek.

* * *

It turned out all their caution was for naught. There was no sign of Hela living or even returning to the cave. Hel huffed in frustration. "This was the closest we got and it's still not close enough."

"At least we know for sure she was here," Val replied. "That's more than at the last location. Or the information we had before."

"Are you always this positive?"

Val didn't answer, just smiled at Hel's scowl. _I bet she just does it to annoy me. Would be typical for these Valkyries. They always are such a pain to be around._

"Just in case, I found something outside." Val pulled a small object from somewhere on her. "I found it on top of the cave mouth. Looks like some kind of crystal or something?"

Hel snatched the crystal away from her. "What were you thinking just collecting it? It could have been enchanted. It-" She paused when her fingers curled around the cool crystal, her back crawled as if in response to the touch. "It has a spell on it. You alarmed Hela that someone found her hiding place. Great. Now she'll be even more on guard than before."

To her credit, Val ignored Hel's icy stare with cool nonchalance. Not many people had been able to pull that off in the past. Instead, she peered at the crystal now in Hel's grasp. "This looks like nothing I remember from Asgard. Where do you think she got that thing?"

Hel felt sorely tempted to snap at Val to figure it out herself, since she was so versed in magic that she just picked up anything that might have a curse on it. Then again, they were working towards the same goal. And she was less obnoxious than most Valkyries Hel had had to deal with. So instead, she concentrated back on the crystal in her hand.

_She's right. Apart from the enchantment I recognised first, there is little to connect it to Asgard. Even before Asgard was turned into a glorified heap of rubble. Where did this crystal come from then?_

"I'll take the crystal with me," Hel decided. "Maybe the mortals know a way to figure out where it came from, since it is very clearly not Asgardian in origin."

Val nodded her head once in agreement. Then, she spun on her heel and left the cave at a brisk pace. Hel rolled her eyes and followed the other woman out of the cave. Unlike Val however, Hel wandered up to where she thought Val had found the crystal. _Just to be sure she didn't miss anything,_Hel told herself. _It's not like I don't trust her. Well no, that's exactly the reason. She took the crystal without knowing what it does._

To her surprise, it wasn't hard to find the place the crystal had been in. A small indent directly above the mouth of the cave was laid out with moss and still held a faint whiff of magic. Hel wriggled her shoulders against the unpleasant feeling between her shoulder blades.

Hel looked around. _So, she hid the crystal here. To notice anyone entering her cave without her knowing. Clever, I have to admit. _Hel rubbed her forehead. _Now there's no chance, Hela will come back here. She'd notice immediately that the crystal is missing.__At least now Val and I can take this security measure into account when looking for her. Not that Hela might use it again since we found the crystal. _She sighed. _Two steps forward and one step back._

"So, are you going to get us home or do you want to stare at the dirt for a little longer?" Val called up.

"Why don't you go ahead, and I'll catch up with you?" Hel fired right back. She grabbed a bit of the moss and stuffed it into the pocket with the crystal.

Val shifted audibly. "Very funny," Hel could hear her rolling her eyes, "I seem to have misplaced my power of teleportation unfortunately. Oh wait, I never had any."

"Am I supposed to feel bad about that?"

"You could at least be less snappy. You're not Fenris."

That got Hel's attention. Her back tingled again. She stood to glare at the Valkyrie. Very slowly, she shifted her disguise. Her Jaw elongated, her skin darkened and grew furry. Her eyes shifted to an unhealthy yellow. With an evil grin, she watched Val take a small step backwards, as she had to watch Fenrir appear right on the ledge of the cave. "What were you saying?" she rasped in the wolf's voice.

Val stared at her with wide eyes. Something told Hel that the Valkyrie was sent back to her fight against Hela and her pet wolf, although her illusion looked nothing like that wolf.

"In case you forgot," Hel in Fenrir's disguise jumped off the ledge, "Fenrir is my brother. Hela's lapdog has nothing on him." Within the blink of an eye the illusion vanished, leaving behind Hel wearing an arrogant smirk. "I'm sorry, did I frighten you?"

There was no response. Val just scowled at Hel, hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Her whole body practically vibrated with energy, tension obviously running up and down her spine, leaving her muscles trembling.

"I'll take that as a maybe, we can leave it at that and go back to our separate ways." Hel extended opened a portal for them and lead Val, still watching Hel warily, through.

* * *

Hel expected many things upon entering the new lab of her science-lings. What she did not expect was to find Millie curled up in Peter's lap with the teen scratching her ear while simultaneously proofreading whatever he was working on. In another corner, she saw Hank and Groot working on something that looked suspiciously like a laser gun.

"I don't think this is right," Peter called to Shuri without looking up. "The chemical reaction wouldn't work the way we need it to."

"Then I suggest, you change it, so it does," Shuri replied with a grin. She was hunched over a workbench, tinkering away at the circuit of something or other. Hel wasn't able to decipher the masses of wires, circuit boards and remains of metal plates on the table and she honestly felt a headache forming just by looking at it.

Hel strode into the room, her boots clacking softly on the floor. "I'm glad you're making progress, but might I direct your attention to something else?"

That immediately caught their attention. From around the room, Shuri, Hank, Groot and finally Peter with Millie in his arms gathered around the crystal and moss.

"And what do we see here?" Hank crossed his arms over his chest.

"I assume it's a type of gemstone. Those are typically a type of mineral crystal used for jewellery and are highly ordered in their microscopic structure to form a crystal. Their formation may differ between magmatic or metamorphic processes with different conditions under which they solidify into this shiny form," Shuri said, tilting her head to look at the object from other angles.

Peter helped Millie to climb on his shoulders to lean forward. Ignoring Hank's unimpressed look, he continued: "I'd even say this is no crystal found anywhere on Earth."

"And you would be right," Hel intercepted before Hank could growl at the teenagers for explaining something to him he didn't ask for. "This is an extraterrestrial crystal, although I cannot tell you its exact origin. Don't touch it just yet, Groot. An enchantment was placed on it to ensure the owner can tell whenever someone enters the cave it was placed above."

Millie bristled.

"I ensured there was no tracking spell on it and retracted the enchantment in so far as it will not tell the owner when the crystal is touched."

"And what do you need us for?" Hank frowned. "If this thing is magical, shouldn't you go to the magicians and have them check this thing over?"

Hel gave him a sharp smile. "I will, don't worry. I know how to do my job. And I hope, you do too."

Groot tilted his head to the side. Carefully, the tree expanded a single branch towards the crystal. Not touching, but maybe sensing for something. "I am Groot," he finally mumbled.

Neither of the other teens answered him, although Hel had the suspicion they would be able to by whatever unearthly mechanism they found. _They are inventive enough to pull it off, plus, Groot has enough of intonation to at least guess the intention without knowing the language._

Millie jumped off Peter's shoulder onto the table. She kept her distance from the crystal, fur standing on end. Clearly, the Flerken was not pleased but also in general unsure about what the crystal was supposed to do.

"So," Peter began, "I guess you want us to find something to-"

"Locate the owner of this crystal, yes."

Shuri looked up at Hel sharply. Her gaze was intense, levelled at Hel as if trying to decide how she should take this order. One of her braids had fallen out of the Leia buns onto her shoulder. _They must have worked tirelessly for quite some time for Shuri to not fix it back into her bun. Although it might just not matter to her._

"You want us to locate the owner of the crystal," Hank repeated slowly.

Hel nodded, still looking at Shuri.

"And how do you think we should do that?"

"That's not the problem," Shuri said calmly. "I already have a rough idea."

Peter's face immediately brightened. He almost jumped into the air with how much he bounced on his toes. "What do you need?"

Hel and Shuri smiled. Shuri told Peter what she would need, and he and Groot left the table to assemble the equipment on another workbench. Millie watched them leave but settled down close to Hel and away from the crystal. Her tail twitched in discontent.

"So, whom does this crystal belong to?" Shuri regarded Millie with interest.

_Maybe she already deduced something about the Flerken in their time together. Millie is awfully nice to these kids._Hel reached out to scratch Millie's back. "A goddess."

Hank raised an eyebrow.

Shuri narrowed her eyes. "I assume it's not a nice goddess of springs?"

"No," Hel felt the scar on her back prickle. "She's another Goddess of Death. She usurped my place. My father and Thor along with a Valkyrie and an Avenger fought against her and her monstrous wolf and army of undead. Unfortunately, they destroyed Asgard in the process, thus leaving them homeless."

"And I guess, you had no hand in it?" Hank snorted. If he hadn't frowned so fiercely, he might have almost looked amused.

Shuri however shook her head. She looked back at him. "No, Hel might not be our favourite person, but she did give us this dream of a lab to work in. Until now she hasn't shown any allegiance with Thanos." Her eyes snapped back to Hel. "Whoever this other goddess is, if Hel doesn't like her, she is not our friend either."

For the first time in what felt like forever, Hel lowered her eyes. _This young woman is looking right through me. Her intellect is unrivalled by any soul I collected over the past almost millennia. _Her back hurt.

Peter returned to Shuri's side to pet Millie. He eyed Hel curiously as well. "You fought her, didn't you?" It was formulated as a question, but Peter's look told her that it very much wasn't. His eyes flitted to the scar on her face and back to Millie. "I noticed she doesn't like the crystal."

"Flerkens tend to be very sensitive towards energies. Dark ones are usually met with a hearty feast on whoever it is." Hel grinned slightly too wide. "But she really likes you."

Although all of the mortals were visibly puzzled by the name for the cat, none of them asked for further explanation. At least for now. Hel knew, especially the ones gathered in front of her were incredibly curious about almost everything.

"So, the crystal has a dark energy because it belonged to a goddess that took your power, attacked your family and you." Peter furrowed his brows. "And now you found this crystal and want to find her." He paused for a moment, looking between his companions and Hel before forging on. "Is she connected to Thanos?"

Hel pursed her lips, the grin wiped right off her face. The scar on her back throbbed. For a moment her human illusion wavered. Neither Shuri nor Peter or Groot flinched at the sight of blue skin and sunset eyes. Only Hank paled slightly at the reminder of their very much not human host.

"Her name is Hela. She is the older sister of Thor. She almost killed me when I tried to keep her in her prison after Odin's death." Hel closed her eyes briefly at the memory. She shifted her stance to alleviate some of the tension in her back. "She took my place, some of my power, destroyed Asgard, threatened my father." With every word, Hel bared her teeth more and more. "I know she didn't die, so she has to be somewhere. Crawling and kissing up to Thanos would be just her style. That witch has to pay for what she did!"

"I don't think we will participate in your little revenge spree." Hank waved his hand dismissively. He moved to step back from the table only to find his feet stuck to the ground, Hel snarling at him from across the table.

"She made me cast a spell, so no one would remember me. My own father forgot I existed."

Her words bounced off the walls of the lab. Stunned silence fell over the room. Hank stared at the goddess with fright clearly visible in his eyes. Shuri stepped back slightly towards the tangle of wires while Peter lifted his wrists. Groot grew a few more branches.

Hel breathed deeply. She closed her eyes. _Flying off the handle is no solution now. Don't let her get to you. She's out there somewhere. Keep your anger at her contained long enough to unleash it on the culprit herself. These people did nothing to you._

Slowly, she released Hank, who swiftly stepped back from the table and towards his corner of the lab.

"I'm sorry," Hel said, eyes still closed and fighting off the sudden wave of nausea. "That was unwarranted."

A huff was her only response. Hel opened her eyes to see Hank turn his back on her. Without acknowledging any of them anymore, he went back to whatever he had been working on before Hel had entered the lab.

Peter on the other hand stepped closer towards her despite the scene. Carefully, he put a hand on Hel's shoulder. "If it's so important to you, we'll find a way to locate this Hela." He sounded almost as if speaking to a spooked animal. Hel might have complained, only she felt, she had no energy left to protest. "From what you told us, she sounds very dangerous. And um," he paused, "I can't imagine what you went through, I guess."

"Trust me, on that front you very much can," Hel replied with a weal laugh. "Snapped to dust and transported into the underworld while separated from your family… it can get very lonely, so I'm happy Millie is doing her job as companion."

"Mrrow," Millie said. She stretched and rubbed her head along both Hel's and Peter's hands with a content purr.

"I don't want to ruin the moment, but we kinda have work to do here," Shuri interrupted.

With another huff, Hel remembered some silly little thing she had once heard in Midgard. "Road work ahead?"

Both teens grinned brightly and delightedly surprised at her as they replied in unison: "Sure hope it does."

* * *

The meeting had already started when Hel strode into the room. Her designated tacticians were huddled around a huge table with maps strewn across it and certain diagrams hefted to the walls. Even Bucky was there, standing next to Sam with a serious look on his face.

Fury was at the head of the table with Hill at his right side. Currently, he was explaining what information they had gathered from the battle plans they had drawn up from each fight they had amongst themselves with Thanos. He paused to look up at Hel. "So glad, you decided to join us."

Hel gave an arrogant smirk. To her delight, Bucky stepped aside to let her slide in between him and Sam at the table. "I had an assignment to deliver to the lab. Shuri sends her greetings as do Peter and Groot." She looked between T'Challa and Starlord. Then she turned to Hope. "I need you to go to the lab to aid in the project after this meeting is over. Your father is being stubborn."

"I assume you did something to warrant that behaviour," Hope shot back.

"Nothing I haven't done before." With a carefully neutral expression, Hel turned to look at the maps on the table. One of them caught her attention. It looked like a map of the battlefield of Wakanda. On it, the lines and waves of enemies as well as tactics employed by the Avengers and Wakandans were marked in different colours. With just one look at the labelling, Hel could tell the other maps documented the attacks in New York as well as on Titan.

When Hel looked up, she found all assembled staring at her. Some had anticipation written all over their faces like Starlord and Sam, while others, especially Fury, regarded her with caution. "Does Thanos always prefer to attack in two waves or is it just his tactic for the army?" she asked. "Assuming he does not solely rely on the sheer number and force of his alien soldiers that are mainly under his influence and are almost mindless, vicious creatures."

Fury leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. "For not being there, you do know an awful lot about his battle tactics."

"It's not hard considering I am the Goddess of Death and have dealt with his nonsense for a few years by now. My father has first-hand experience with Thanos' tactics, so it is actually not a huge leap on my part," Hel replied evenly. "Apart from that, your maps are quite impressive given the relatively short amount of time you had to assemble them." She pointed to the diagrams on the walls. "Those are great as well, I am sure the more data we have to analyse his tactics, the better equipped we'll be by the time we have to face him again. Even more so, if we can relay the thusly gained information to the living remainders of the Avengers."

Around the table, the humans shifted uncomfortably at hearing her praise their results as well as pointing out the work that still needed to be done with one thorough look at their data.

Finally, Starlord tilted his head. A slow grin spread across his face. "So, how do you plan to get the plans to the living world?"

"I don't think we need to worry about that," Sam replied calmly. "She is the Goddess of Death, as she keeps reminding us. I don't think it'll be a problem to get the information between the realms."

"Personally, I would be more interested in why you didn't stop Thanos before he started his hunt on the Infinity Stones," Fury cut in.

"Simple. As long as he doesn't play with the balance of Life and Death it is none of my business, what mortals get up to." Hel shot a quick glance at Bucky. "I might choose to intervene on a small scale or to help single groups overcome certain struggles, if their fates allow it. However, it is entirely out of my hand and not without consequences for me to intervene with fate and their plans for mortals in every other aspect. My playing field is a limited one."

That got her considering looks from Hill, Fury and T'Challa as well as Hope. It was nothing she hadn't expected before. After all, her inclusion in the mess was a curious one to begin with. Of that Hel was very aware of.

_To be honest, I just didn't care to intervene as long as it didn't affect me and my Golden Hearts directly. Until then, Thanos was little more than a nuisance to be dealt with in due time by someone or other. But now? Now it's personal. And I am not backing down until I tear Thanos apart limb by limb._

Bucky and Sam both, as if by prior arrangement, shifted closer towards Hel. They bracketed her in at the table while simultaneously presenting a united front for the others around the table. If that was their aim was anyone's guess though, since Hel was relatively sure, Sam didn't think too fondly of her after their initial meeting.

As if on another cue, the door burst open and Peter stumbled into the room. His hair stood up in odd angles and his eyes were as big as saucers. "Hel! We found a connection for the crystal."

Immediately, Hel shifted to get to the young man. Sam and Bucky shifted away from her, all eyes following her way across the room. She ignored them. Her focus solely on Peter. The prospect of finally finding a proper lead on Hela was too alluring.

"What did you find?" she asked and pulled Peter more into the room. "Can you locate Hela's whereabouts?"

Peter shook his head. "No, not yet. Shuri's still working on that. We found a signature on it. Hel, the crystal is not only Asgardian. It comes originally from Titan."

"How did you find that out?" Starlord interrupted. "You don't have any of our technology."

"We cross-referenced particles we found on my suit, which I wore on Titan with the crystal and those matched up solidly. No doubt, both the crystal and my suit have been on Titan. Hela might even have been on Titan herself."

_Hela was on Titan. Thanos' homeplanet Titan. And she was there. Maybe the witch is even working together with him. It would certainly suit his arsenal to have a Goddess of Death by his side to kill whomever he wanted without having to resort to the Infinity Stones. How could I not think about this possibility? I need to get in contact with Val, we have to warn the others, get her on the radar for both searching and tactics. Nothing could prepare them properly to fight against her – no, only I should fight her. Death against Death. But for that I need to find her. Could she still be on Titan?_

A hand landed on her shoulder, making Hel jump. Bucky immediately took a slight step back just in case. "Sorry, I didn't want to startle you," he said. "You just looked so deep in thought and we need you here."

Hel's noticed her breathing was elevated, short gasps of breath without ever seeming to breathe out. Her fingers were twitching, her magic rippling in the air around her. Small sparks raced through her hair like electricity. Hel couldn't focus her gaze on one single point. _My back hurts. Why does my back hurt? My back hurts._

A face appeared before her. Someone called her name. Over and over again. Hel pressed her hands over her ears. _Too much. Too loud. My back hurts!_

"What happened?"

"I don't know. She's having a panic attack?"

"Give her room. I'll see if I can calm her down." That voice. Something in Hel recognised that voice. Soothing somehow. Hel turned towards it blindly, among the flashed of pain in her back.

"My back hurts." Had she just said that? Was that her voice whimpering? It sounded pathetic.

"Her back?"

"Everything will be alright, Hel. Just listen to my voice. You need to come back. Deep breaths. Breathe with me. In and out. In and out. Come on. You can do it."

Hel focused on the voice. She tried matching her breathing to the words and air she felt on her face. Slowly, very slowly, her breaths evened out to a slower rhythm. Her vision returned to focus. The first things she noticed were Bucky and Peter standing closer to her than the rest with matching worried eyes.

"Hey, you totally blacked out there on us," Peter mumbled. "Do you want to maybe sit down?"

It spoke of Hel's constitution that she just nodded at the suggestion and allowed Bucky to lead her to one of the chairs and place her in it. She looked around the room, noting the worried looks everyone was wearing but trying to disguise under a forced neutral expression.

"What was that?" Starlord mumbled.

"A mild panic attack," Hel replied weakly. "Peter, I gave you the short version. Bucky, I'm sure I told you about it as well. Would you two please fill in the others on Hela? I'll fill in any blanks later. I need a break."

Without waiting for a reply from either, she opened a portal beneath her that transported her right into her chambers.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 12**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except my own. The characters belong to MARVEL.

* * *

CHAPTER 12 CALM

Bucky stared at the place Hel had disappeared in just moments before. Next to him, Peter did the same only with more wonder on his face. "A portal. Just like the ones Doctor Strange did in space," he mumbled.

Bucky glanced around the room. His gaze landed on Fury, still with Hill by his side. The two of them looked over the room with furrowed brows. "I suppose, this is more like Loki's magic portals than Strange's," Hill noted calmly, "Although that does not explain what 'Hela' means exactly."

All eyes shifted back to Peter and Bucky. Both exchanged a look, noticing the other slightly curling in on themselves. _Great. Two people uncomfortable with attention on their person. And the kid is looking a lot like a deer caught in headlights. I guess I should do the talking._

"You do remember how Hel attacked first Wanda, then me and then Loki, right?" Bucky carded a hand through his hair. It was not one of his fondest memories of Hel. Or one he could easily forget. Although his time with her did make it hard to completely distrust her. _She does work hard to help us defeat Thanos and get back to Earth._

Sam shifted his stance, crossing his arms. "Do you mean to tell me that Hel is still harbouring anger from that very first day?"

"Not anger," Peter spoke up. His eyes were glued back to the place she had disappeared at. He turned to look over his shoulder at the rest of the room. "Hel came to us with a crystal she found on another planet and suspected to have a connection to Hela. She told us that Hela is Thor's older sister, which is like super whacky. And this Hela lady tried to kill Hel, after Hel tried to kill her because Hela tried escaping from her prison. Hela took her place as Goddess of Death, destroyed Asgard and threatened Loki." He lowered his head. "Hel is sure she is still out in the galaxy and may be working with Thanos perhaps?"

Bucky sat down in the chair Hel had previously vacated. He looked back at Fury with more serenity than he felt. "Hel cast a spell to erase her existence from people's memory. When Sam and I found her, she was very surprised I could even remember her. So we can assume, not even her own father could resist her spell."

"Or we could take control of this whole country and forego the middle man to get back to Earth faster," Starlord suggested.

Hope shook her head. "I don't think that's a good option. She is a god after all. That has to account for something."

"For a lot actually," Sam cut in, "If I remember correctly, she told us on our very first day that no one can kill her except for another Goddess of Death. Which would mean that only Hela could kill Hel and vice versa." He crossed his arms over his chest, rubbing at his chin. "From what I can tell from Barnes's stories, Hel is our better option in the long run."

"Oh, she definitely is." A new voice interrupted.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. Loki leaned against the far wall almost casually, albeit with the air of royalty that seemed to cling to him like a cape. Around the table, the others shifted to grab for their weapons.

"You destroyed New York," Peter said.

Loki's gaze fixed on the teenager. Intense, cold, unyielding. Bucky felt a shiver run down his spine. _He might be Hel's father, but Loki is definitely not someone I would trust my life with. Not even to have my back on our training grounds._

"Careful soldier, you might pull a muscle from frowning so fiercely." Loki's eyes twinkled with mirth.

"I've had worse," Bucky replied in the same lilting tone. A soft warning. A game between two beings older than they seem and stronger than most humans. For a moment, no one in the room said a single word.

Loki tilted his head like a cat looking at its prey. A look Hel had given often enough over the years whenever something held her attention or she analysed how she might draw her advantage from the situation. "Are you sure you want to play this game, soldier?"

_At least I remembered her after she cast her spell. How come you didn't? Why didn't her own father remember her?_Bucky pressed his lips into a thin line.

"Yes, boy, I attacked New York," Loki said, as if nothing had happened, "However, as always, you mortals only know half of the story. See half of the picture."

"Then enlighten us." Fury gestured around the room. "Tell us what exactly we are not seeing."

Loki lowered his chin. Soft green light wound around his fingers, idly licking at them like a pet snake. A clear reminder of his power. "You are not seeing the power Thanos holds. He is a Titan." His grin was more a show of teeth. "If I remember correctly, Director, I told you before: The ant has no quarrel with the boot. Thanos is the boot. We are the ants." With a flick of his wrist, a picture in green unfolded above the table.

Startled, Bucky pulled one of his knives from the sheaths I his boots. The second he could make sense of what Loki had manifested, he made use of the blade. With a satisfying sound it embedded in the door.

"This is not good." Hope leaned forward to examine the hologram more closely. "We thought the attack on New York was the attempt of a sociopath with a god complex. But that," she pointed out several of the monsters descending from the heavens with armour branded with a unifying symbol. "Why did no one notice that?"

"Glamour," Loki said, as if it was obvious, "Many details a re lost in the heat of battle."

"So, you destroyed New York with Thanos' orders?" Hill asked.

Another grin, like the cat that got the cream. "Very good, Agent. I admit I am slightly impressed. Hel told me you were all so very good, alas, I did doubt you. Forgive me, I shall not make the same mistake twice."

"Why did you do it then?" Peter shoved forward. Ignoring any kind of security, the teenager almost barrelled into the god. Hands balled into fists, he started yelling. "Why did you destroy New York? Killed so many people. Good people. I knew some of them, classmates and their parents. Why did you do it, if it wasn't even your army to begin with! I – I lost…" As sudden as his emotions boiled over, Peter sank back into himself. Shoulders curling forward, head ducking, the teenager curled in on himself.

Bucky blinked. Something almost like empathy crept into Loki's eyes. The hologram on the table collapsed in on itself, changed to another scene. Peter didn't turn around to see it, though all of the adults observed the scene presented to them.

"It was never my plan," Loki said quietly. "After my attack on my brother he dropped me off the Bifrøst. Thanos fished me out, offered a chance to prove myself worthy or die." Loki pursed his lips. "Not a choice really. Contrary to what you believe, I am not evil incarnate."

Slowly, Loki stepped away, another mask falling over his features. His posture relaxed as he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at Peter down the bridge of his nose. "I am sorry for your loss. But the past cannot be changed. The future however can be. whatever drove my daughter to put her trust in the hands of you mortals."

"What about this Hela then," T'Challa asked, "What makes her worse than Hel?"

The green magic swirled across the table, arranging itself in a new formation. It was nowhere on Earth as far as Bucky could tell. _From what I gathered, and judging by the hovering ship and rushing people, this might be Asgard? Is this Hela's doing?_

The scene changed. A monster of lava erupted from what had been a palace of some kind. Starlord whistled lowly at the manoeuvres a small spaceship flew to avoid being hit by the lava or other debris. A small figure rose from the water, spewing blades as long as their arm, horns curling around their head. _Hela. _Bucky couldn't say, why he was so sure of this, but the lithe figure could be no one else than Hel's step aunt.

"She just disappeared in the lava? That doesn't seem very impressive," Sam remarked.

T'Challa pursed his lips. "We know Hel thinks she didn't die in that maelstrom. What did she say? A Goddess of Death is almost impossible to kill, only by one of their own." He scanned the display, now still, above the table. "Hela helped in the destruction of Asgard I take it. And before that she fought Hel and injured her."

Loki crossed his arms behind his back. He stood straight as if in court, chin just high enough to not seem snobbish. One could easily imagine him in finery, striding down the hallways of long forgotten palaces. "Hela holds no mercy for anyone. Neither alive nor dead. She is not a true Goddess of Death."

With a quiet huff, Fury folded his arms across his chest. Brows furrowed, he stared at the hologram, taking in the information he'd been given. At his side, Hill seemed to be deep in thought as well. The two SHIELD agents obviously ran through their options and possible counter measures in their heads.

"I think it would be best to gather everyone and share our information. Plan our next steps," Hill eventually said. She glanced around the room, eyes lingering slightly longer on Loki. "Would you lend us your talents again?"

"How could I refuse, if you ask so nicely." Loki sketched a bow in her direction, eyes glittering with mischief. "However, I would beg to wait until I fetch Hel. She seems to have fallen in one of her tempers?"

Bucky stood from his chair. Everyone immediately turned to look at him. With measured steps, he strode up to Loki. The god met his dark gaze with a raised eyebrow. "How may I help you, soldier?"

He didn't resist when Bucky pulled him from the room. Merely waved over his shoulder at the other occupants of the room. Peter raised a hand to awkwardly wave back before the door fell shut. Bucky turned on Loki.

"Be careful. The fight with Hela and her spell has shaken her."

"I know. And I regret the part I played in it. You do not have to believe me, but I do. She deserved better than what I gave her."

Bucky nodded once. _I didn't think, he'd actually apologize. Then again, I don't know Loki very well yet. Merely from whatever Hel inferred about him in passing over the years._

* * *

Loki didn't bother looking for Hel in her chambers. No, his hellspawn was too riled up to stay in her room for long. Instead, Loki descended deep into the ground under the palace. A familiar looking guard crossed his path upon entering the halls of the dungeon. "How very nice to see you again," Loki purred, "Might you tell me where Hel is at this moment?"

The guard looked at him flatly. "My lord." He didn't even pretend to sketch a bow or emanate any kind of politeness towards the royal. "Lady Hel is in the third chamber on the right. She is however occupied with an," his form flickered, "exercise."

_Ah. Gone to take the edge off. Very well, I can work with that._Without another look at the former guard of Asgard, Loki strode down the hall. _Let's just hope she does not feel inclined to go against me again._Behind the doors on his way, Loki heard the screaming of lost souls trapped in the torture chambers.

The third chamber's door opened into a shooting range. Torches lined three of the four walls and bathed the room in flickering golden-red light. A lone figure whirled through the room. The green glow of magic played across Hel's figure in inhuman swirls and patterns. It shot out in different directions with the smallest gestures from Hel. As Loki approached, he could see her illusion had slipped to her half-corpse form.

Loki stopped a safe distance away. Hel's fighting style had long since departed from his and Frigga's. Her movement was just as fluent, but more offensive and reliant on magic than theirs. The targets hung on the wall rattled with each new impact of daggers made from magic.

_It has been a long time since we trained together and didn't try to wound each other… Although target practice might be more effective with a moving target to take her frustration out on._Loki folded his arms over his chest.

"Do you plan to say anything or are you just going to watch?" Hel asked after some time. She let her magic lift her into the air, flinging daggers of magic at the targets. Each one hit the bull's eye.

Loki grinned. "I could always help." With a wriggle of his fingers, the targets moved slightly to the side. Hel growled as she adjusted her grip on the daggers accordingly. With a thud they embedded themselves in the centre. Hel flipped herself over and landed back on the ground. Without looking, she hurled another dagger at the targets, this time moving the targets to meet her daggers instead of the daggers themselves. Loki tried but failed to rip them from her clutch.

"Oh dear," Hel cooed, "Are you out of practice?" She twisted around. Her red eyes bore into Loki's green, a smirk playing across both their faces that was slightly too much teeth. "You know," Hel continued conversationally, "you could always just accept that you are getting old. But don't worry, I'm sure you can think of something."

Loki stepped up next to her. "Who are you calling old?" A blade appeared in his hand out of thin air. Without breaking eye contact, Loki hurled it at the targets, splitting one of Hel's magic down the middle.

His daughter didn't startle in the slightest, but she didn't look away either. Her mouth pulled into a thin line. "Well then. Are you challenging me to a duel?" There was an evil glint in her eyes.

Loki tilted his head thoughtfully. _This could get interesting. She is in a bad mood, but still mostly in control or she would be hurling her magic at me already. And yet._His eyes wandered back over his hellspawn. _She would never allow anyone to see her caught in the middle like this. Yet here we are._

A mirthless grin stretched Hel's lips wide, showing teeth that flashed sharp for a moment. "No, don't worry, there's no need to."

In quick succession, three cracks echoed amongst the torches. The handles fell to the ground, scorched and burned as if struck by lightning. Hel's grin faded. As if snuffed out, weariness replaced the glint in her eyes. Loki laid his hand on her shoulder. "Would you come with me?"

To his surprise, Hel nodded once without a single word of complaint. Even more so, she allowed her father to guide her out of the chamber and up a few stairs towards the stables. _Hel always liked the horses and other beasts she got. It should calm her down to be around them now. For the conversation we need to have._

* * *

As soon as the double door to the stables closed behind them, Hel trotted over to a bench overlooking the flesh-eating horses. "I have some of the Pegasi of the Valkyries," Hel said quietly. "Always hoped, one day they might come of use. With Thanos on the rise, it might be time to wake the beautiful beasts up."

"Hel," Loki said quietly, "I am not here to talk about horses. As much as I appreciate them."

A hush fell over them. Neither Hel nor Loki daring to say anything further. They stared at the horses in the paddock. Their fur was dark as charcoal, manes fluttering in unnatural breezes or maybe just the fire the mares exhaled. From time to time, they snapped at each other with their sharp teeth, small fights erupting among them before they quieted down once again.

"Who told you?" Hel didn't look at her father, but her form shimmered to return to her humanoid appearance.

Loki allowed a small smile to grace his lips. "No one. You are my daughter. I always know, when you are in pain."

An amused huff escaped Hel. She glanced up at her father. "Liar."

It was not easy. Neither of them had ever been fond of communicating their feelings. With a new group of mortals running around her palace, it hadn't become any easier. The convenient moments alone were becoming more and more sparse. _Still, I need to try._

"Alright, you caught me. I might not have simply known, but your magic does still cause a ripple in the fabric of your world. You are linked to it." Loki leaned back against the back of the bench. "The exit you made caused quite the uproar among your souls. Even your soldier was worried for your wellbeing. They demanded to be shown the truth about Hela. And I assume, this is only the beginning. Humans are so curious."

Hel winced and tried to cover it up by pulling her legs up on the bench. She bought time by arranging herself, so her chin rested on her knees in an unusual display of discontent.

"I don't know what happened," she said, "Ever since I found the crystal, my shoulder ached. And then they started asking questions and my back hurt more and more. It might be a curse I disturbed unknowingly."

Loki looked at his daughter. _She looks so small like this. Not at all like the powerful Goddess of Death I know her to be. More like the child I hid after her mother disappeared back in Asgard._He extended his arm to lightly rest on the bench behind Hel's neck. To his delight, not that he would admit it, she didn't flinch away.

"Personally, I do not think it was an enchantment."

Hel stiffened.

"There is no shame in feeling hurt. I admit, I did not notice your spell and I should have known your signature. However, I am also proud you managed to put not only the Allfather under a spell for years, but also me." Loki took a deep breath. "I hope to make amends for the pain I caused you, hellspawn."

In a flash, Hel uncurled on the bench. Her posture turned rigid, as she stared at Loki. It was almost the posture of a proper lady at court. Surprise was written all over her face before a carefully crafted mask fell over it. "Do you really think that?" Hel questioned.

Loki nodded his head slowly. "I may have forgotten you, but now I remember." Hel stayed perfectly still as they kept staring at each other.

Hel was the first to move again. Her clothes shifted into a loose tunic and dark trousers. Strands of her hair rearranged themselves into an intricate braid that fell down her back. "I suppose, the others deserve to hear the story first hand," she mumbled, "Along with what my plans beyond their mortal grasps are."

"You don't have to. Some of them already have your story." Loki turned to look back at the horses. "And you do not owe the mortals any kind of explanation."

"They are my chosen ones. I saved them from the mind stone. There is a price for everything. Besides, there are aspects of this plan not even you know. And I found, plans tend to work out better when everyone involved is aware of its machinations."

One of the horses trotted over to the fence closest to the gods. Its flaming eyes staring at them unseeingly. A snort and another horse joined the first. Slowly, the entire herd collected at the fence. _It's almost as if they can sense something in the air._Loki looked at his daughter and found her staring back at the horses with the same fire sparking in her eyes. _Or maybe she is drawing their energy to her._

Hel blinked, coming back to herself. "We should go." She looked at Loki and there was still a lingering red glimmer in her emerald eyes.


End file.
